Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences

Extending von Neumann and Kuhn's original frameworks, I introduce axiomatically sequential games with possible infinite plays and infinite action sets. Generalized backward induction procedure is defined over roots of subgames and allows to define a general solution concept of backward induction equilibrium (BIE). The main result is that for practically all interesting types of pure and behavioral strategies the set of BIE is identical with subgame perfect equilibria (SPE). I hypothesize that this relationship is universal and discuss numerous applications. With some caveats, the result is applicable to mixed strategies.