Game theory and institutions

This short paper is a much abbreviated summary of an attempt to treat justice as a kind of institution, offered in the hope that it will serve as a case study in how game theory can serve as a useful intellectual framework for the study of human institutions.

Research highlights► It is not always wise to follow Douglass North in modeling an institution as the rules in a game. ► Social norms can be seen as equilibrium selection devices in the game of life. ► A game-theoretic analysis of fairness norms provides a defence of a form of Rawlsian egalitarianism.