Introduction: Symposium on Noncooperative Bargaining

This Symposium includes 12 models of bargaining. Each of the following characteristics is shared by most of them: (1) bargaining is noncooperative within a set of rules governing the process of negotiation (the “Nash Program”); (2) bargaining is bilateral; (3) some or all of the traders are incompletely informed. The authors explore the existence, multiplicity, and efficiency of equilibria and the plausibility of equilibria as descriptions of observed behavior. In addition, some authors discuss the effects of nonbinding preplay communication (“cheap talk”), the effects of increasing the number of players, and alternatives to the Nash equilibrium framework.