John Forbes Nash Jr. podcast

This is from Economics in Ten podcast, season two, episode four. Nash’s life is often reduced to A Beautiful Mind (great film), but this episode tells the full picture. It gets into the actual economics: game theory, Nash equilibrium, and what happens when rational individuals interact strategically. The Nash equilibrium concept is directly applicable to A-level oligopoly content: it is a natural way to model price-fixing, arms races, and strategic interdependence between firms. Pete and Gav build up to the Prisoner’s Dilemma clearly before connecting it to real market behaviour. Accessible and spec-relevant, particularly for students covering market structure: game theory tends to be taught quite mechanically at A level and this episode gives it much richer context.  Listen here