Game Theory Denotation Easy to Understand

 

 

Some of my challenge learning game theory is the symbols or denotation of. It is hard to change certain situation from sentence to the "mathys" language. Here I sum up some of the important Denotation.

 

INGREDIENTS OF THE GAME	Denotations
Player -	i ,j (little) 1,2,3
Set Of Players	N
Actions	a
Action Profile (set of action of each player)	a = (ai…an)
Action of other player other than ' i ' (notice there is a minus sign)	a-1 = (a1, a2,…a_i,a +i, …an).
Action of all player ; i and everyone else	a = ( ai , a_i )
Utility or Pay-offs;   *Utility must be attached with action. So the symbol must come together	Ui ( ai , a_i) *I understand it just like function f(x)
SET of Strategy Strategies = A plan of action for a game/strategy profile (little s)	S s s = (s1,…,sn)
particular strategy of player i	si
Strategy of i and other than i	s = ( s , s_i) which is s_i = (s1, s2 ,..,s_i,s+i,…sn)

 

Important Note!

All problem have particular Timing and Information of the game. It is important on the strategy to answer the question.

Timing of the game can be;

Static: simultaneous actions in a single period

Dynamic: non-simultaneous action over different periods

Repeated: Simultaneous action over multiple.

 

Information of the game can be;

Incomplete information: Payoffs of other may be unknown

Imperfect Information: Actions (or history of) is unobserved

 

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Stop the Lies about Malaysia and PM Najib!

You know there is anarchy in cyberspace when a former editor has the cheek to suggest that “Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should step down from his finance portfolio for his questionable management of the country’s finances.

To add salt to the wound, Malaysiakini had to feature Kadir’s article with a mischievous article headlined 'Cabinet reshuffle, PM drops Najib' (http://tinyurl.com/nzwtdo7

Why is it NOW that people are complaining about the absence of a process of separation of power between the premiership and the finance portfolio when this has been a practice from 1969-1970, 1998-1999 and 2001 to the present?

( Check Image )

Personally, I believe PM Najib is right on track in his efforts to spur economic growth for our country.
Here’s a summary of his record of achievements. Kudos to PM Najib and his team.

1. First Quarter of 2014 = 6.2% growth

According to the latest report from the Ministry of Finance (http://tinyurl.com/nwpbwtq), growth of the Malaysian economy gained traction to record 6.2% during the first quarter of 2014 (Q4 2013: 5.1%) amid improving global economic conditions and strong domestic activity. This was the highest growth since the fourth quarter of 2012.

2. The Economist Business Environment Rankings

Malaysia has been ranked among the top 20 investor-friendly countries for the period between 2014 and 2018, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)’s latest Business Environment Rankings (BER).
The report, released in May, ranked Malaysia 19th out of 82 countries as the best places to do business in.

Malaysia came in ahead of countries like the United Kingdom, France, South Korea, and Japan, showing an improvement of five places after ranking 24th for the 2009-2013 period
.
The country’s regional ranking was unchanged at sixth place, out of 17 countries measured.
(The Star, June 17th 2014)

3. Even the World Bank has acknowledged Malaysia’s economic growth so why do some claim that Malaysia’s economic growth has stagnated around 8%?

Malaysia is an upper-middle income, highly open economy. Malaysia was one of 13 countries identified by the Commission on Growth and Development in its 2008 Growth Report to have recorded average growth of more than 7 percent per year for 25 years or more. Malaysia achieved this spectacular performance from 1967 to 1997. Malaysia has also succeeded in reducing poverty: the share of households living below the national poverty line (USD 8.50 per day in 2012) fell from over 50 percent in the 1960s to less than 2 percent currently. (World Bank :http://tinyurl.com/nfqm7yk )

4. Federal Government’s Financial Position has been improving steadily.

You can access the data AT THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (http://tinyurl.com/otqhoyp)

5. Our key economic indicators have healthy figures.

Gross Domestic Product 6.2% chenge in 1st quarter of 2014
Unemployment Rate 3.2% change (February 2014)
Exports 8.4% change in March 2014
Balance of Trade 96.8% in March 2014
Consumer Price Index 3.4% in March 2014
Industrial Production Index 4.3% in March 2014
Production Price Index 3.6% in March 2014

6. Malaysia's FDI is improving steadily.

( Check Image )

7. Critics are unfair in criticizing PM. Two days ago, Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah (http://tinyurl.com/nbg37mw) said Malaysia is on track to trim its fiscal deficit to 3.5% this year. These are the achievements so far:

Malaysia trimmed its fiscal deficit to 3.9% of GDP last year.
The country was also on track to hit a 4.5-5.5% GDP growth this year.
Private investments were showing a record double-digit growth with robust movement in construction Exports are also improving.

8. While it is true that Malaysia has run a fiscal deficit since 1998, critics refuse to recognize that it reduced the shortfall to 3.9% of gross domestic product last year, the least since 2007. This is according to the central bank’s annual report on March 19. The government aims to cut the gap to 3.5% this year, Bank Negara said in the report which you can read at this link in the website (http://tinyurl.com/pk7wb2h)

Besides, the report also said Malaysia’s economy expanded at the fastest pace in four quarters in the three months ended December as a recovery in advanced nations including the U.S. boosted demand for the country’s goods. GDP climbed 5.1 percent in the period from a year earlier.

The Executive Summary for Bank Negara’s 2013 report on Malaysia can be accessed HERE (http://tinyurl.com/qblflg4)

The financial position of Bank Negara Malaysia, as audited and certified by the Auditor General, remained strong in 2013. The total assets of Bank Negara Malaysia amounted to RM474.2 billion, with a net profit of RM5.5 billion for the financial year ending 31 December 2013. Bank Negara Malaysia declared a dividend of RM1.5 billion to the Government for the year 2013.

“The timely implementation of fiscal and structural reforms will boost investors’ confidence and enhance private-sector investment,” Lee Heng Guie, an economist at CIMB Group Holdings Bhd., said in a report today. “We believe the government is on track to meet its fiscal-deficit targets.” (Bloomberg : http://tinyurl.com/kfjhum7 )

Malaysians must test for themselves what critics say or write about the government. Why are they portraying the PM and the country so negatively? What is their real motive and that of news portals that seem to be on a secret mission to put the country in bad light? Is this true patriotism?

If those critics cannot come up with concrete solutions or proposals to counter their perceived weaknesses of the economy, they should just ZIP UP!

No sane father would shame his own children publicly. The same goes for citizens. It is time Malaysians learn to have more wisdom and discernment in what they choose to read, write or remember. In the mean time, I salute PM Najib and his staff for their perseverance in standing up against the flak and steering the country in the right direction. Syabas!

Written By Datuk Huan Cheng Guan 

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Why Marxist ideology is useful till today?

Marxism is not dead. It is a useful tool to analysed various condition in social,economy and even culture.The method of analysis allows the birth of other others ideas such as social democracy,Keynesian economics,institutional economics ,welfare capitalism and others. It is the first ideology that popular and look at workers as the focus on the economy. There’s a few reasons why Marxism tool is still useful.

1.       Historical approach

                Marxist use the method of historical approach of analysing the problem. He predicted that the free market system will collapse and in crisis. This will lead to the market taken over by the proletariat. It  is going to a dictatorship like a form of socialism where economic power was in the hands of the majority. However ,Marx wrote little about the detailed of the communist economy that would replace capitalism,except it would be based on common ownership. However the crisis that the world had experienced force the scholars to take the element of Marx critique on capitalism seriously.

2.       Labour Theory Value

Karl Marx describes the famous description of the labour theory of value in his magnum opus Capital. Factory owners wanted to maximize their profit by reducing the cost of production. Marx said that the workers should be valued at the cost of production. All the other cost must be measured first, and the minimum and fair price for the workers' effort must be put in place,after that then the value of profit for producer can be determined. Marx says without the labour, any element may not have value at all. However, Marx did not deny the importance of supply and demand in the marketplace  would influence the values or price of good in the short run. This critique is the seed of minimum wages that most of developed country applies today.

3.       Class analysis

Class analysis is another tool that were useful on Marx critique. Many scholars used this tool to analyse certain economic, or social problem based on class analysis. It is the tool to see whether there is some kind of elite group that are manipulating the “lower” class of society. In politics, the leaders will use these tools to highlight problems in society and use it get support.  Government cronies , landlord and capitalist usually label by politicians as the source of conflict and term as Bourgeoise and people and workers are proletariat .This tool was used especially in democratic country to call amass support to change the government.Even though it would not lead to revolution as Marx predicted, it does the job that politicians want.

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Best political ideology Malaysia should apply

Some ask me, what my ideology is. In simple word, I should say I am centre left.  First and foremost, I want a stable country. Anything or anyone that a threatening the stability of this country should be rejected.

Unfortunately, there is no one single answer for this. It is a combination between democracies, state control economy (without destroying the capitalist system), at the same time provides welfare to the people. It is a combination of social democracy, welfare and conservatism in social politic. However, before all this can be applied, the people inside the government must have pre established with INTEGRITY and a system to check Transparency.

Welfare

In my view, the most important aspect of all in the country is welfare. The government should know how to manage people welfare and find sources and income to deliver it to the people. To maximize welfare for the people, the country must have good economic growth. Today, government that is not able to provide welfare will be considered as unpopular. In a democratic system, the unpopular government will be changed.  The motto of “government knows best is over” is a myth. The government SHOULD know better. They should know best all the time. If they fail to know better, why should we elect them anyway? Good government is the governments that have the best political economic policy and grew their country richer.

Reject free market

Because of the above stance, I reject free market in most of the area but not all areas. Peoples are not rational all the time. Governments have to know best. We know that market is an imperfect system. Not all aspects can be left to the market. Any aspect, such as transportation, water supply, education, cannot be left to the market alone. The public good must under the control of government. It is okay to give tender directly without having open tender first, but with the condition that the one that they choose to have a good track record. Still, as I stated before, the integrity and transparency must be preserved.

The abuse of right

You may disagree with me, but in my opinion, some right and freedom are not important. For example, freedom of speech in my opinion is bringing more harm than good. People did not know how to use this freedom and they abuse it instead. More people are abusing it, especially in the upcoming social media, especially Facebook and tweeter. It is better off to restrict their freedom. Freedom of speech contains a seed of instability.

Sustain Political Culture

The best political economic system in Malaysia today is a system that sustains political culture, religion and values. In other words, maintaining the right of Malay, Islam and religious freedom and language. The government should enforce the law for those who challenge this value .It doesn’t mean that, this gives only right to certain ethnic. As stated in the constitution, the right of Malay and other will be protected. It is totally wrong to say , “Cina balik cina, or India balik india” because it is their right also as citizens of Malaysia to stay and live here. It is as wrong as saying that “Malaysian Malaysia” which to promote equality in every aspect. Both of these “popular” slogans are threatening each other right, Malays and Non-Malays.

Mix and Match

We should not stick to only one system because the system invented by the scholars are not necessary perfectly fit to one particular country. We will have to mix and match to get the perfect system. The perfect one will emerge in the continuous process of synthesis. I also believe that the perfect system in Malaysia is in the growing stages, it will evolve until everyone is having the same right as others regardless of what races, skin colours and gender. However, it might take at least another five decades from now. We have to realize that even, some might call “perfect system” such as the United States or Sweden also take a few hundred years before they abolished the apartheid policy. Swedish only give right for Muslims to Azan a few months ago. But in Malaysia, the Christian can ring their bell and Hindus can build their temple anywhere as approve by authority. In certain aspect, we are more advanced in protecting the right of another religion to practice there believes. This is the value that most of us less appreciate.

Respect to democracy

 I believe that we are evolving into a better system with a good check and balance in parliament. What I mean is a peaceful debate, not hatred speech, neither on the street. We change nothing by going down the street except leaving some rubbish behind and forced other shop on the street to close. People cannot go out because of these irresponsible demonstrators. They claim they have right to assemble, but also infringe the right of other people to  go to work, to do business or just to have family time on that particular area. This is another example of abusing the right. That’s why I considered these human right actually is not as important as economy because is a threat to national stability. To change the government, use vote instead of the road.

Solidarity of rakyat

The perfect system won’t come itself except by the solidarity of the people. Each of us has to be responsible not to ruin the system that has been established by our founding fathers and we our self must respect it. We must give something to get something. Example, if you wanted a free education, we must be willing to pay a high tax. If you want a national unity, we have to speak the same language. The perfect system forced us to wait and act accordingly within the rule of law. Trust me; our political economic system is evolving to a greater high.

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Socialist Market Economy Vs Free Market Economy

In theory, free market believed to be the most efficient economy possible. It regulated itself by demand and supply mechanism through “creative destruction”(Joseph Schumpeter ,1947). However, the reality is that the economies contain the seed of distortion and it is inefficient and may cause harm. Some believe that the matter that disrupting the free market are not possible for the government to remove them.  Kelvin Lancester and Richard Lipsey argued that any attempt to modify or relocate the distortion will make things worse because the problem is actually linked with each other. If government wanted to do it, it must be done with caution. They believed that policies to correct market can make things worse.In Malay proverbs saying“  like mouse fixing the pumpkins” . For you all know “Pumpkins” that touches by the mouse are inedible.

However, we know that by not letting the government interfere with economy, and hope it repair itself is impossible. The debate is becoming crucial in the aftermath of World War II after all of the facility, human capital, the system had been destroyed. Like in the West Germany, the government had to build the economy and the political system from scratch.  We know that the free market also will result to monopoly and cause inequality. We also know that interference of state in the economic system might make the stagnant of the economy. Therefore, what the state should do is find a “middle way”. In this Muler Armack said it is social market economy. In the system, the industry remained in private ownership, free to compete, but government must provide a range of public goods and services, including a social security system with universal health care, pensions, unemployment benefit and measure to outlaw monopolies (and cartel!) .

This theory suggests that it would allow economic growth of free markets, but at the same time produces low inflation, low unemployment, and more equitable distribution of wealth. The history proves that mixture of free market and socialism worked dramatically well. Germany experienced a Wirtschaftswunder (“economic miracle”) in the 1950’s that transformed it from a country that destroyed because of war to major developed nation. 

Even thought the social market economy proved to harvest “miracle pumpkins” The proponents s of free market still there, led by Margaret Thatcher. But some other follow Germany steps such as China when its premier Deng Xiaoping adopted element of free market economics to operate within the centralized economy.  Malaysia is also on the path of becoming social market economy even though it is still far from European models. The method and policy are similar to mixed economic evidence by heavy interference of government, it provides facilities and inviting capital. 

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How affirmative policy can be lifted

Government Institution’s important role in society is,  to reduce uncertainty by embedding a stable human interaction in the country. The Institutions might not necessarily efficient,  but it must be stable. However, by saying it must be stable; it doesn’t mean that the government institutions cannot be changed. In fact, to ensure its stability, it must evolve. How governments evolve? The tools are might be in the form of conventions, codes of conduct, norms or behavior to make law, and common law, and contract between individuals.  The change and evolution of the government will alter what is more for us, in this case Malaysian citizens. Take note that any change of policy will have to go back to rule No.1 , does the change provide stability to society.

                In this topic, we are going to discuss the formal constraint for the change of the government institutions which is a policy of special right for Malay and Bumiputera in economic policy. The government aims for Malay to have at least 30% economic equity. This is one of the aspiration to uplift the Malay social status because of hundreds years of colonization. The intention is to provide the stability to the country. To ensure society lives in the harmony, the policy embedded in the constitution and gradually in custom, tradition and norm of Malaysia. The question is, does the Malay privilege policy will be changed? What is the factor that might change this?

To answer this question, we have to look back in history rather the policy of protecting Malay are getting enlarge or become smaller.  History will let us know about  how much right of Malay has been reduced, or in other words evolves. From the beginning, even thought the Malay privilege was in the constitutions, Tunku Abdul Rahman administration does not really stress on how Malay should be aided. The economic approach is much more liberal and open. However, after the 13^th May 1969 tragedy, the affirmative policy for a  Malay to strengthen the economy emphasized, with the intention to reduce the social class and the gap between rich and poor. The colonization promotes the economic identity based on races and that’s why the policy has to be specific to the Malay. New Economic Policy (NEP),National Development Policy, New Economic Model and other policy introduced. This is all done under the name of stability.

Dato Seri Hishamuddin,Future Prime Minister,Graduated From LSE. He is one of the stronghold in protecting Malay Privilege.-Illustration Purpose Only-

Let’s fast forward. Roughly, under Prime Minister Najib administration, the service and economic benefit were given to all Malaysian without prejudice. The economic policy under his currently rarely mentions on “Malay” compared to his predecessor. The term Malay in political rhetoric was replaced with 1Malaysia aspired to give benefit to all Malaysian.  Does this the attempt for the institution to evolve?

Of course to change Malay Privilege is a very complicated process. This is because by doing it, will cause the change of informal rules and the question of effectiveness of enforcement will come into play. Politician and legislator might change the rule on the paper, but informally, the people that running the policy are the “old Institutions” that take more than that to be changed. It is even harder to change informal constraints of changing policy ,such as customs, traditions because it has embodied in institutions.

Another question to focus is in term of the necessity of change. Is there a strong need to change and does the components that support the change sufficient for the change.  The necessity of change will depend on the divergence of society that wanted to change the policy. If the divergence is strong enough the policy will evolve.

For me, it is impossible to lift the Malay privilege formally. I can assure that the Malay right will not be lifted. However, I know that It WILL EVOLVE .It might change incrementally with the support by all organizations (politic ,education, NGO, business and other) when the Malaysian people itself feel that the policy affect the stability of this country. It will change itself when the days people saying that the races and religion are No. 2. Individual freedom, equality and solidarity are at priority. Today, what embedded in society is that, the policy was made to fix the social status and class of Malay and Bumiputera. Even thought the Barisan Nasional government might change one day, in my opinion, the institutions will not change and hard to change.

To change this policy, all institutions (government, society, religion, academics, etc..)  must converge and believe that this change are for the stability.  The winner will be the idea, that, which is going to provide betterment for the people.

History proves that custom, codes of ethical and norm will evolve. We seems example, today on how trade grows without highlights what religion, race, belief of the producers. In the medieval ages, the trades accounted this entire factor. The origin, custom, skin color and mission are converging into the similarity of background and ethnicity. However, in a few hundred years later, this nature has evolved. The trade institutions converge on finding one thing, which is to maximize profit and efficiency of production. The backgrounds become less important in this global world. The trade Institutions changes and evolve its policy. For all you know, Government is an Institution. It will evolve just like the trade.

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Submit Your Article Here

The PES welcome you to write and share your view here and let the world know your ideas. You can write various topics such as political science, political economy,International Political economy ,International Relations and others topic that admin feels suitable to be published here.

Criteria of article

1.The article has to be at least 250 words. The more the better

2. Make sure the idea is original and not copy paste.

3. The Article can be in English or Bahasa Malaysia.

4. The article will be published upon approval from the author.

5. Must not contain seditious word or hated opinion.It must be on a fair opinion and criticism.

6. It is best if the writer can cite resources.

What you need to do is just send your article via email : redrealist99@gmail.com.We will review at publish it here.

So, let’s write ,share and learn together !

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Marxist believe in NO GOD ,only Material!

I think this is one of the good video presentation on Marx philosophy . Marxist believe in No god, no angel,no afterlife , no heaven or hell. It only the thing what we see are exist. It describe the origin of the idea and some important value such as material dialectic and class struggle in society. Marx use the idea of Hegel saying that thesis and antithesis will generate new idea which is call Synthesis. The repeating process of this are going to generate more and more new idea until it gets to the perfect system.

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Najib Confident on Momentum Second Quarter Will Continue : Malaysia Reclaim its glory of Asian Tiger Economy!

In parliament today (12 June 2014)  Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is confident the nation’s economic growth will be maintained in the second quarter of the year driven by political stability and investors’ confidence towards government policies.

 Two keyword highlighted by NaJib is Political Stability and how Investors Confidence towards government policy. In my view it is a  gentle reminder for the rakyat to together not to threats the stability that we have been build for so long. It is a reward for Malaysian beside of political differences, we still choose democracy instead of street to change the government.

He said the momentum would also be spurred by vibrant domestic activities coupled with a competitive export sector in the first quarter.

                             

“Godwilling, this encouraging development will help the economy reach the target growth of more than five per cent this year.

“This target is in tandem with the 5.2 per cent forecast by the International Monetary Fund for 2014,” he said in Parliament today.

Najib was replying to a question from Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (BN-Lenggong) who asked about Malaysia’s current economic performance and how the country was fairing against its neighbours.

Malaysia also become favoured country among ASEAN to get FDI might because of conflict that occurs in Thailand. The potential investors that initially wanted to invest there might shift their intention to Malaysia Instead. This is again to stress how important of political stability contribute to Malaysia Economic Growth.

Najib, who is also Finance Minister, said the economy showed an encouraging trend in the first quarter with real Gross Domestic Product registering a growth of 6.2 per cent. He said this was the highest GDP growth recorded since the fourth quarter of 2012.

“In fact, this growth was better than that recorded by the Philippines (5.7 per cent), Indonesia (5.2 per cent), Singapore (5.1 per cent) and Thailand (-0.6 per cent).

 Even strong economic country such as Singapore cannot compete with Malaysia GDP growth. This is something that rarely happen and Malaysian should be proud of. 

“This performance was supported by robust domestic activities and favourable external factors,” he added.

Najib also said the sterling performance was a result of the Government Transformation Programme, high level of domestic savings, strong international reserves, resilient banking system, low unemployment and inflow of rapid foreign investments.

With Malaysia effort to lead the market and protecting Industry with GTP,it really shows that the economy need a Big push from the state to boost. Malaysia indeed stil The Asian TIGER!

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