Overview

I'm a game theorist, with a primary focus on the economics of networks. My secondary focus is the application of game theory in cancer.

Job market paper:

Evolutionarily stable networks. Preprint here, and here's a short, non-technical video overview.

Abstract: This paper studies the evolution of behavior governing strategic network formation. I first propose a general framework of evolutionary selection in non-cooperative games played in heterogeneous groups under assortative matching. Evolution selects strategies that (i) execute altruistic actions towards others in the interaction group with rate of altruism equal to the rate of assortative matching and (ii) are stable against pairwise coalitional deviations under two qualifications: pairs successfully coordinate their deviations with probability equaling the rate of assortative matching and externalities are taken into account with the same weight. I then restrict the domain of interaction games to strategic network formation and define a new stability concept for networks called 'evolutionarily stable networks'. The concept fuses ideas of solution concepts used by evolutionary game theory and network formation games. In a game of communication, evolutionarily stable networks prescribe equal information access. In the classic co-authorship game only the least efficient network, the complete network, is evolutionarily stable. Finally, I present an evolutionary model of homophilistic network formation between identity groups and show that extreme high degrees of homophily may persist even in groups with virtually no preference for it; thus societies may struggle to eliminate segregation between identity groups despite becoming increasingly tolerant.

Working papers:

Optimism leads to optimality: Ambiguity in network formation, Revise and resubmit, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control.

with Ani Guerdjikova.

Journal publications:

Best-response dynamics in directed network games, Journal of Economic Theory, 2023. Preprint.

with György Kozics and Nóra Gabriella Szőke. 

Games and the treatment convexity of cancer, Dynamic Games and Applications, 2023 (special issue entitled 'Evolutionary Games and Applications'). Preprint.

with Jeffrey West.

A Markovian decision model of adaptive cancer treatment and quality of life, Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2022. Preprint.

with Joel Brown, Johan Dubbeldam, and Mark Broom.

Coordination games in cancer, Plos One, 2022. Preprint. Supplementary information.

with Robert Gatenby, Patsy McDonald, Derek Duckett, Kateřina Staňková, and Joel Brown.

Farsighted manipulation and exploitation in networks, Journal of Economic Theory, 2021. Preprint.

with Jean-Jacques Herings and Ronald Peeters. 

Adaptive learning in weighted network games, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 2019. Preprint. 

with Jean-Jacques Herings, Ronald Peeters, and Frank Thuijsman.

A two-phenotype model of immune evasion by cancer cells, Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2018. Preprint. 

with Joel Brown and Kateřina Staňková.

Peer-reviewed conference submissions:

The Shapley value in machine learning, IJCAI-ECAI, 2022, The 31st International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence.

with Benedek Rozemberczki (lead author), Lauren Watson, Hao-Tsung Yang, Olivér Kiss, Sebastian Nilsson, and Rik Sarkar.

PhD dissertation:

Public goods games on networks and in tumors. School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, 2019.