Ehud Kalai
Encyclopedia
Ehud Kalai is a prominent American
game theorist and mathematical economist
known for his contributions to the field of game theory
and its interface with economics
, social choice, computer science
and operations research
. He is the James J. O’Connor Distinguished Professor of Decision and Game Sciences at Northwestern University
, where he has taught since 1975.
on December 7, 1942, Kalai moved to the US in 1963. He received his AB in mathematics from the University of California Berkeley (1967) and an MS (1971) and a PhD (1972) in statistics and mathematics from Cornell University
. After serving as an assistant professor of statistics at Tel Aviv University
(1972–75), he was hired by Northwestern University
to establish a research group in game theory. He is the founding director of the Kellogg Center of Game Theory and Economic Behavior and the executive director of the Nancy L. Schwartz Memorial Lecture series.
Kalai is the founding Editor of Games and Economic Behavior
, the leading journal in game theory. With Robert J. Aumann, Kalai founded the Game Theory Society and served as its president from 2003 to 2006. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society
, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Doctorat Honoris Causa) by the University of Paris at Dauphine (2010), the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar position at the California Institute of Technology
(1993), and was appointed the Oskar Morgenstern
Research Professor at New York University
(1991).
Kalai’s contributions to non cooperative game theory include the Kalai and Lehrer model of rational learning, which shows that rational players with truth-compatible beliefs eventually learn to play Nash equilibria of repeated games. In particular, in Bayesian equilibria of repeated games all relevant private information eventually becomes common knowledge. His more recent work on large games shows that the equilibria of Bayesian
games with many players are structurally robust, thus large games escape major pitfalls in game-theoretic modeling.
Kalai is also known for seminal collaborative research on flow games and totally-balanced games; strategic complexity and its implications in economics and political systems; arbitration, strategic delegation and commitments; extensions of Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem in social choice; competitive service speed in queues; and on rational strategic polarization in group decision making.
"Other Solutions to Nash's Bargaining Problems," Econometrica, 1975 (with M. Smorodinsky)
"Proportional Solutions to Bargaining Situations: Interpersonal Utility Comparisons," Econometrica, 1977
"Monotonic Solutions to General Cooperative Games," Econometrica, 1985 (with D. Samet)
Non cooperative Game Theory
"Finite Rationality and Interpersonal Complexity in Repeated Games," Econometrica, 1988 (with W. Stanford)
"Rational Learning Leads to Nash Equilibrium," Econometrica, 1993 (with E. Lehrer)
“Large Robust Games,” Econometrica, 2004
Probability and Learning
"Bayesian Representations of Stochastic Processes Under Learning: deFinetti Revisited," Econometrica, 1999 (with M. Jackson and R. Smorodinsky)
Economics
"The Kinked Demand Curve, Facilitating Practices, and Oligopolistic Coordination," 1986 Northwestern DP (with M. Satterthwaite; published by Kluwer, 1996))
"Observable Contracts: Strategic Delegation and Cooperation," International Economic Review, 1991 (with C. Fershtman and K. Judd)
"Complexity Considerations in Market Behavior," The RAND Journal of Economics, 1993 (with C. Fershtman)
Social Choice
"Aggregation Procedure for Cardinal Preferences: A Formulation and Proof of Samuelson's Impossibility Conjecture," Econometrica, 1977 (with D. Schmeidler)
"Characterization of Domains Admitting Non-Dictatorial Social Welfare Functions and Non-Manipulable Voting Procedures," Journal of Economic Theory, 1977 (with E. Muller)
"Path Independent Choices," Econometrica, 1980 (with N. Megiddo)
Operations Research / Computer Science
"Totally Balanced Games and Games of Flow," Mathematics of Operations Research, 1982 (with E. Zemel)
"Optimal Service Speeds in a Competitive Environment," Management Science, 1992 (with M. Kamien and M. Rubinovitch)
“Partially-Specified Large Games,” Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2005
Mathematical Psychology
"Strategic Polarization," Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 2001 (with A. Kalai)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
game theorist and mathematical economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
known for his contributions to the field of game theory
Game theory
Game theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...
and its interface with economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, social choice, computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
and operations research
Operations research
Operations research is an interdisciplinary mathematical science that focuses on the effective use of technology by organizations...
. He is the James J. O’Connor Distinguished Professor of Decision and Game Sciences at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, where he has taught since 1975.
Biography
Born in IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
on December 7, 1942, Kalai moved to the US in 1963. He received his AB in mathematics from the University of California Berkeley (1967) and an MS (1971) and a PhD (1972) in statistics and mathematics from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. After serving as an assistant professor of statistics at Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
(1972–75), he was hired by Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
to establish a research group in game theory. He is the founding director of the Kellogg Center of Game Theory and Economic Behavior and the executive director of the Nancy L. Schwartz Memorial Lecture series.
Kalai is the founding Editor of Games and Economic Behavior
Games and Economic Behavior
Games and Economic Behavior is a journal of game theory published by Elsevier. Founded in 1989, the journal's stated objective is to communicate game-theoretic ideas across theory and applications...
, the leading journal in game theory. With Robert J. Aumann, Kalai founded the Game Theory Society and served as its president from 2003 to 2006. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society
Econometric Society
The Econometric Society is an international society for the advancement of economic theory in its relation with statistics and mathematics. It was founded on December 29, 1930 at the Stalton Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio....
, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Doctorat Honoris Causa) by the University of Paris at Dauphine (2010), the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar position at the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
(1993), and was appointed the Oskar Morgenstern
Oskar Morgenstern
Oskar Morgenstern was a German-born Austrian-School economist. He, along with John von Neumann, helped found the mathematical field of game theory ....
Research Professor at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
(1991).
Selected Contributions
Kalai’s early work was on the foundation of cooperative game theory. The Kalai-Smorodinsky solution reopened the study of bargaining by showing that the long unchallenged Nash solution is not unique. He later axiomatized the Egalitarian solution to bargaining problems and, with Dov Samet, formulated its extension to general (NTU) cooperative games, unifying it with the Shapley (TU) Value.Kalai’s contributions to non cooperative game theory include the Kalai and Lehrer model of rational learning, which shows that rational players with truth-compatible beliefs eventually learn to play Nash equilibria of repeated games. In particular, in Bayesian equilibria of repeated games all relevant private information eventually becomes common knowledge. His more recent work on large games shows that the equilibria of Bayesian
Bayesian
Bayesian refers to methods in probability and statistics named after the Reverend Thomas Bayes , in particular methods related to statistical inference:...
games with many players are structurally robust, thus large games escape major pitfalls in game-theoretic modeling.
Kalai is also known for seminal collaborative research on flow games and totally-balanced games; strategic complexity and its implications in economics and political systems; arbitration, strategic delegation and commitments; extensions of Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem in social choice; competitive service speed in queues; and on rational strategic polarization in group decision making.
Selected publications
Cooperative Game Theory"Other Solutions to Nash's Bargaining Problems," Econometrica, 1975 (with M. Smorodinsky)
"Proportional Solutions to Bargaining Situations: Interpersonal Utility Comparisons," Econometrica, 1977
"Monotonic Solutions to General Cooperative Games," Econometrica, 1985 (with D. Samet)
Non cooperative Game Theory
"Finite Rationality and Interpersonal Complexity in Repeated Games," Econometrica, 1988 (with W. Stanford)
"Rational Learning Leads to Nash Equilibrium," Econometrica, 1993 (with E. Lehrer)
“Large Robust Games,” Econometrica, 2004
Probability and Learning
"Bayesian Representations of Stochastic Processes Under Learning: deFinetti Revisited," Econometrica, 1999 (with M. Jackson and R. Smorodinsky)
Economics
"The Kinked Demand Curve, Facilitating Practices, and Oligopolistic Coordination," 1986 Northwestern DP (with M. Satterthwaite; published by Kluwer, 1996))
"Observable Contracts: Strategic Delegation and Cooperation," International Economic Review, 1991 (with C. Fershtman and K. Judd)
"Complexity Considerations in Market Behavior," The RAND Journal of Economics, 1993 (with C. Fershtman)
Social Choice
"Aggregation Procedure for Cardinal Preferences: A Formulation and Proof of Samuelson's Impossibility Conjecture," Econometrica, 1977 (with D. Schmeidler)
"Characterization of Domains Admitting Non-Dictatorial Social Welfare Functions and Non-Manipulable Voting Procedures," Journal of Economic Theory, 1977 (with E. Muller)
"Path Independent Choices," Econometrica, 1980 (with N. Megiddo)
Operations Research / Computer Science
"Totally Balanced Games and Games of Flow," Mathematics of Operations Research, 1982 (with E. Zemel)
"Optimal Service Speeds in a Competitive Environment," Management Science, 1992 (with M. Kamien and M. Rubinovitch)
“Partially-Specified Large Games,” Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2005
Mathematical Psychology
"Strategic Polarization," Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 2001 (with A. Kalai)