ABSTRACT
Game theory is a towering intellectual achievement of the post-World-War-II era and the Shapley value a centerpiece of the branch of game theory known as cooperative game theory. Its popularity is reflected in the multiple theoretical analyses of which it has been the object over the years and in the ever expanding scope of its applications being as fascinating today as it was when first defined. The rich palette of essays gathered in this volume testifies to its remarkable resilience and versatility.
The goal of this chapter is to place the Shapley value in the broader context of the theory of cooperative games, to describe how it relates to other solution concepts, to review basic definitions of the key axioms that have been invoked in its classic characterizations and to briefly introduce each of the individual contributions to the volume.
