The landmark work in game theory was John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern's Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour , which was published in 1944. The insights of game theory are constantly being refined and elaborated, and it remains one of the most vibrant fields in the social sciences.
Game theory is the mathematical study of games and strategy.
Its purpose is, essentially, to determine from a given set of rules the likely strategy to be used by each player, and to find the best. In this sense, the theory of games is the analysis of the strategic elements of a game rather than that of the chance elements, which mathematicians have studied over a much longer period in probability . But game theory is not an abstract activity, not pure mathematics. Nor is it a game, though it is useful for explaining the logic of many social games. It is mostly deployed to explore such complex and serious topics as the logic of arms races, the behaviour of agents in imperfect markets, and the behaviour of political parties and coalitions.