Game Theory and Water Resources

A monograph that intends to review the main contributions of game theory in water resources over the past 70 years. It aims to compare the set of issues faced by water resources and those the sector is most likely to face in the coming future. Based on this comparison, a future research agenda and priorities will be proposed.

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The use of game theory (GT) in water resources by different disciplinary professions including, but not limited to, engineers, international relations experts, economists, and geographers, is vast and impressive. The objective of Game Theory and Water Resources is to collect this vast literature, catalogue it, and provide present and future practitioners of game theory in water resources with a source of information that can be useful for their research. The authors assume that readers of this monograph have the basic skills in game theory, and have kept explanations of game theory concepts to a minimum. Game Theory and Water Resources introduces the topics and moves onto reporting the historical trends observed in the accumulation of GT publications on water between 1942 and 2013. Section 3 describes the developments in Cooperative GT-methodologies to water issues, whose applications ruled the GT applications during the period 1950-1990. Section 4 reviews the development of Non-Cooperative GT (NCGT) methodologies to various water issues. Section 5 provides a comprehensive review of GT surveys that have been published in the literature.
Section 6 reviews Game Theory applications by sub-sector -- the authors identify 11 sub-sectors and review the applications of GT approaches to each of them. The monograph ends with a conclusion and identification of remaining problems to be addressed in the future.