Prof. Dr. Dr.h.c. David W. K. Yeung is Co-director of Centre of Game Theory at Saint Petersburg State University, Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Asia University, Professor Emeritus and Director of SRS Consortium for Advanced Study in Cooperative Dynamic Games. He is also Distinguished Honorary Professor of Qingdao University - an honor he received along with Nobel laureates John Nash, Reinhard Selten, Robert Aumann and Lloyd Shapley. The SRS Consortium for Advanced Study in Dynamic Cooperative Games is a joint research initiative under the auspices of Saint Petersburg State University, Russian Academy of Sciences and Shue Yan University. He has held Faculty positions at Queen’s University, University of Hong Kong and National University of Singapore.

 

Yeung obtained his BSocSc in economics and statistics from University of Hong Kong and his PhD in mathematical economics from York University. He studied in the Doctor of Sciences (Doktor Nauk – Continental European higher doctorate above PhD) program in applied mathematics at Saint Petersburg State University and was awarded the University’s highest degree of Dr.h.c. for his outstanding contributions in differential games. The Doktor Nauk program requires an average of 15 years to complete and the development of a new scientific field (in contrast with the PhD program which requires the development of a new topic).

 

Yeung’s main areas of research are game theory, optimization and stochastic processes. He serves as Managing Editor of International Game Theory Review, Guest Editor of Annals of Operations Research, Associate Editor of Dynamic Games & Applications, Associate Editor of Operations Research Letters, Editor of the Routledge (Taylor & Francis) Series on Economics and Optimization, and Board of Editors of Mathematical Game Theory & Applications. Yeung has published extensively in world renowned science journals, in particular, Automatica, Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Annals of Operations Research, European Journal of Operational Research, International Game Theory Review and Mathematical Biosciences.

Among Yeung’s ground-breaking academic work include (i) the origination of the notion of subgame consistency and a generalized theorem for the derivation of analytically tractable subgame consistent solutions which made possible the rigorous study of dynamic stochastic cooperation; and (ii) a new paradigm of games -- ‘durable-strategies dynamic games’ which provides a new perspective approach with a new class of strategies in dynamic game theory. The addition of durable strategies in the strategies set of dynamic games does not only make game theory applications possible for analysis of real-life problems with durable strategies but also establish a new theoretical framework with novel optimization theory. 

 

Yeung and Leon Petrosyan co-authored the world’s first book on Cooperative Stochastic Differential Games. In the book’s advanced praise George Leitmann (Berkeley) stated that this book will be the ‘bible’ of the field for years to come. Vladimir Mazalov (Russian Academy of Sciences) praised the book’s advancements in dynamic stability as a continuation of the great tradition of A. Lyapunov, L. S. Pontryagin and V. Zubov.

 

Yeung and Petrosyan co-authored the world’s first treatise on Subgame Consistent Economic Optimization. Vladimir Mazalov praised the text as a Russian classic in mathematics and economics and it expanded L.V. Kantorovich’s award-winning work in economic optimization significantly in the new directions of game-theoretic interaction, dynamic evolution, stochasticity and subgame consistency.

 

Yeung also authored a premier treatise on dynamic consumer theory with stochastic dynamic Slutsky equations. This book is the world’s first text on consumer theory in a stochastic dynamic framework. It expands the static consumer theory into stochastic dynamic consumer theory. Prominent highlights of the book include a series of stochastic dynamic Slutsky equations and inter-temporal Roy’s identity. “The stochastic dynamic Slutsky equations in this book formed a new milestone in consumer theory after the classic work of Slutsky.” (Vladimir Mazalov, Russian Academy of Sciences)

 

Yeung and Leon Petrosyan co-authored the world’s first book on Subgame Consistent Cooperation, which is a comprehensive treatise on the concepts and solution mechanisms of their pioneering work on cooperative subgame consistency. In the book’s back-cover praise Vladimir Mazalov stated, “The 2004 Nobel Economics Prize was given to works in economic policies under the concept of time consistency with mathematical construction less general, rigorous and precise than that later developed in this book. …. In terms of advancement in practical applications this book is highly important theoretically and technically on top of economic interpretation.”

 

Yeung and Leon Petrosyan also co-authored another world’s first text on Dynamic Shapley Value and Dynamic Nash Bargaining. Vladimir Turetsky stated, “the contribution of the book is the dynamic extension of two milestone results in Cooperative Games, the bargaining solution of Nash and the value of Shapley. Real-life processes in economics, biology, social life, etc. are inherently dynamic,……. . Therefore, I believe that mathematical results presented in the book will have a long echo in various applications in different and unexpected fields.”

 

Yeung and Leon Petrosyan developed a novel dynamic game theory paradigm – “Durable-strtaegies Dynamic Games”. It yields a new system of dynamic games in which the players’ strategies involve durable controls. In addition, a new dynamic optimization technique is also established. This paradigm fills a significant gap in conventional dynamic game theory. The establishment of durable-strategies dynamic games provides an augmentation of dynamic game theory with durable strategies in decision-making schemes. Praises for the book from eminent dynamic game theorists stated that:

 

"Not too many new concepts have been introduced in dynamic games since their inception. The introduction of the concept of durable strategies changes this trend and yields important contributions to environmental and business applications." -- Dušan M Stipanović.

 

"Before this book, the field simply did not realize that most of our strategies are durable and entail profound effects in the future. Putting them into the mathematical framework of dynamic games is a great innovative effort." -- Vladimir Turetsky.

 

“Durable-strategies Dynamic Games is truly a world-leading addition to the field of dynamic games. It is a much needed publication to tackle increasingly crucial problems under the reality of durable strategies.” -- Vladimir Mazalov.