Strategic Games and Behavior.

Catalog description

This course introduces the concepts and tools of game theory as an analytical framework for understanding strategic interactions and decision-making. The focus is on non-cooperative games with applications to economics as well as other areas. Coverage will include a variety of solution concepts such as Nash equilibrium in pure and mixed strategies, subgame perfect equilibrium and Bayesian equilibrium; simultaneous, sequential, and repeated games; and games with imperfect or asymmetric information. The emphasis of the course will be on the applicability of game theoretic analysis to real-world interactions. In addition, basic concepts of behavioral economics will be introduced and used to understand how and why the equilibria that result in many games are not those that would be predicted by rational choice theory. Prerequisite: ECON 053 or permission of the instructor.