Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is 5 months old, and no clear end is in sight. As the invasion turns into a long-term war, it’s time to think strategically about what can be done now to manage and contain the threat in the future.
As economists specializing in behavioral economics and game theory, we teach strategic concepts from game theory to our business students. The same ideas can help us understand Russia’s current moves, predict its future behavior and derive the best strategies to achieve long-term goals.
A key concept in game theory is “backward induction”— looking ahead to the potential outcomes that may arise in the future (the so-called game tree) and then working backward to determine what the optimal actions are for each party to take today.
