Dept. of Finance, Economics and Quantitative Methods

EC 490: COOPERATION AND COMPETITION

Spring 2006

 

Dr. Don Ross

e-mail: dross@commerce.uct.ac.za

website: http://www.uab.edu/philosophy/ross.html

 

This is an introductory course in game theory, the framework for analyzing strategic interaction. Game theory is (among other things), the basic technology for understanding most phenomena in microeconomics and some phenomena in macroeconomics, and many processes in political science, law, evolutionary biology, and the science of animal behavior (ethology). In this course we will study the basic structure of the theory. All mathematics will either be self-contained within the course, or will be familiar from EC 210 (Principles of Microeconomics).

 

Texts

 

The required textbook for the course is Avinash Dixit and Susan Skeath, Games of Strategy, 2nd edition (D&S). Students will also consult Don Ross, `Game Theory’, in the online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/game-theory .

 

Prerequisite

 

EC 210, Principles of Microeconomics; or permission of the instructor.

 

Assignments and grade components

 

Problem sets (every second week): 30%

Mid-term test: 30%

Final examination (short answers and problems): 40%

 

Week-by-week syllabus

 

Week 1 (Jan. 9): Basic concepts. D&S ch. 1, Ross pt. 1

Week 2 (Jan. 16): Basic concepts, continued. D&S ch. 2.

Week 3 (Jan. 23): Modeling situations as games: sequential moves. D&S ch. 3, Ross 2.1 – 2.3.

Week 4 (Jan. 30): Modeling situations as games: simultaneous moves. D&S ch. 4, Ross 2.4 – 2.5.

Week 5 (Feb. 6): Combining sequential and simultaneous moves. D&S ch. 6.

Week 6 (Feb. 13): Mixed strategies. D&S ch. 7, Ross pt. 3.

Week 7 (Feb. 20): Mid-term test; Mixed strategies, contd.. D&S, ch. 8 (to p. 250).

Week 8 (Feb. 27): Uncertainty and information: D&S, ch. 9.

Week 9 (March 6): Commitment: D&S, ch. 10, Ross pt. 5

Week 10 (March 13): Repeated games and coordination: D&S ch. 11; Ross pt. 4

Week 11 (March 20): Repeated games and coordination, contd.; NO CLASS ON MARCH 23

March 27: Spring break week

Week 12 (April 3): Evolutionary games. D&S ch. 13; Ross pt. 6

Week 13 (April 10): Brinkmanship. D&S ch 14

Week 14 (April 17): Voting. D&S ch 15

Week 15 (April 24): Frontiers of game theory. Ross pt. 7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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