Behavioral Game Theory

Nash equilibrium is the main game theoretic concept used in economics. Evolutionary stable strategy , or ESS, is the main game theoretic concept using in biology. The issue I want to look at here is the relationship between the two. This is an issue that appears to cause much confusion amongst students (and some academics).          The main thing that I would suggest needs to be recognised is that Nash equilibrium and ESS are fundamentally different. They were conceived completely independently with very contrasting objectives in mind. The Nash equilibrium was developed by John Nash in the 1940/50s as an equilibrium concept for non-cooperative games . And note that the genius of Nash was not so much to develop the Nash equilibrium but to recognise the importance of non-cooperative games. The ESS, by contrast, was developed by John Maynard Smith and George Price in the 1970s as an equilibrium concept for evolutionary games . Again, the genius was not so much the ESS but the recogni