Strategic Behavior and the Environment > Vol 4 > Issue 3

When Beliefs About Future Create Future — Exploitation of a Common Ecosystem from a New Perspective

Agnieszka Wiszniewska-Matyszkiel, Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, Warsaw University, Poland, agnese@mimuw.edu.pl
 
Suggested Citation
Agnieszka Wiszniewska-Matyszkiel (2014), "When Beliefs About Future Create Future — Exploitation of a Common Ecosystem from a New Perspective", Strategic Behavior and the Environment: Vol. 4: No. 3, pp 237-261. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/102.00000045

Publication Date: 11 Aug 2014
© 2014 A. Wiszniewska-Matyszkiel
 
Subjects
Environmental economics,  Economic theory,  Environmental politics,  Operations research
 
Keywords
C72D83D84C61Q20Q56
Exploitation of a common ecosystemEcological educationGames with many playersDynamic gamesNash equilibriumImperfect informationBeliefsBelief-distorted Nash equilibriumSelf-verification of beliefs
 

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In this article:
1. Introduction 
2. Nash Equilibria and Belief Distorted Nash Equilibria — The General Outline of the Solution Concepts 
3. Common Renewable Resource — Formulation of the Model 
4. Pre-BDNE, BDNE, and Self Verification for the Common Renewable Resource Model 
5. Conclusions and Further Research 
Appendices 
References 

Abstract

In this paper, a model of an ecosystem influenced by a large human population is presented. It is modelled by a discrete time dynamic game with many players and a simple dynamics. The paper proposes a new way to look at the problems of exploitation of ecosystems by many users — using the author's concept of belief distorted Nash equilibria (BDNE) — new kind of equilibria in games in which the information of players may be distorted. In such situations Nash equilibrium ceases to be an adequate solution. One of important results of this paper is showing the role of properly designed ecological education as a very important factor influencing information that is crucial for players' decision making processes and, therefore, the state of the ecosystem itself.

DOI:10.1561/102.00000045