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Overview

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Instructor: Martin J. Osborne

This module of PhD micro is designed (a) to equip students who do not intend to pursue research in economic theory with the main game-theoretic tools used in contemporary economics, and (b) to provide students who plan to pursue research in economic theory a solid grounding in game theory.

The text is

Martin J. Osborne and Ariel Rubinstein, A course in game theory (MIT Press, 1994)
(The website for the book has a list of typos and other information you may find useful.)

If you have no background in game theory, you may also find useful my lower-level book An introduction to game theory (Oxford University Press, New York, 2004).

The course covers the following topics.

  • Nash equilibrium (Ch. 2 through 2.5)
  • Mixed strategy equilibrium (Ch. 3 through 3.3)
  • Bayesian games (2.6)
  • Extensive games with perfect information (Ch. 6)
  • Bargaining games (Chs. 7 and 15)
  • Repeated games (Ch. 8)

Problem Sets

The only way to learn analytical material is to do problems! I will assign problems after most classes; they will be taken up in the Tutorial Sessions.

Assessment

Your mark in the module will be based on the final examination, which will be held Monday, February 24 from 9:10am to 11am in BA 2175.

Your grade in ECO2030 will be the average of your grades in this module and the second module.