Can and Should the Nash Program Be Looked at as a Part of Mechanism Theory?

Abstract

The present article presents and discusses the recent controversy about the possibility and meaning of relating the game theoretic Nash program to mechanism theory. The non-cooperative foundation of the Nash bargaining solution is used as an example to shed light on the formal relation between traditional non-cooperative support of cooperative solutions and mechanism theoretic implementation of social choice rules. The technical possibility of regarding the Nash program as a part of mechanism theory is taken as a starting point for discussing the meaning of implementation , "good" mechanisms and extensions in the spirit of Hurwicz's (1994) "genuine" implementation.