Section L0201: Class R2-4 in UC140. Tutorial F2-3 in UC140.
In the following schedule, IGT refers to my book An introduction to game theory.
I will post slides for each class by the morning of the day of the class. The compact versions are best for printing, the complete ones best for viewing on a screen.
- Week 1
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Strategic games and Nash equilibrium (IGT Chapter 1 and 2.1–2.7).
- Week 2
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Examples of Nash equilibrium in games with many players. Competition between firms: the models of Bertrand and Cournot (IGT 3.2 and 3.1). Using best response functions to find Nash equilibria in general games (IGT 2.8)
- Week 3
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Electoral competition (IGT 3.3).
- Week 4
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Mixed strategy Nash equilibrium (IGT 4.1–4.3 and 4.5).
- Week 5
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Applications of mixed strategy Nash equilibrium: expert diagnosis and the volunteer's dilemma (IGT 4.6 and 4.8).
- Week 6
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Implications of rationality and beliefs about others' rationality. Strict domination (IGT 2.9.1). Never-best responses. Iterated elimination of strictly dominated actions. Weak domination. (IGT 2.9; see also 12.2 and 12.3, although the treatment there is more advanced than the one in class.)
- Week 7
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Collective choice: voting (IGT 2.9.3); committee decision-making (IGT 2.9.4); voting with imperfect information and the "swing voter's curse"; juries (IGT 9.7).
Friday October 30, 1:10pm - 3pm: Midterm exam, room EX 200
- Week 8
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Auctions: private value sealed-bid auctions under first- and second-price rules; common value auctions (IGT 9.6).
- Week 9
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Extensive games: subgame perfect equilibrium (IGT 5.1-5.5).
- Week 10
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Extensive games: Stackelberg duopoly; ultimatum and holdup games (IGT 6.1, 6.2).
- Week 11
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Repeated games and collusion (IGT 14.1-14.12).
- Week 12
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The core, matching, and the deferred acceptance algorithm (IGT 8.1, 8.2, and 8.7)