Introduction to Game Theory, Spring 2010

Course Content and Objectives:  This course is an introduction to game theory, the study of strategic behavior among parties having opposed, mixed or similar interests. This course will sharpen your understanding of strategic behavior in encounters with other individuals--modeled as games--and as a participant in broader markets involving many individuals. You will learn how to recognize and model strategic situations, to predict when and how your actions will influence the decisions of others and to exploit strategic situations for your own benefit. 

Lectures:  We will meet for lectures (and play games!) in the Pittsburgh Experimental Economics Laboratory, 2600 Posvar Hall.  There are two sections offered of this course. Section 1 meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30am-10:45am. Section 2 meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11am-12:15pm. There are no recitation sections for this course.

My Office and Office Hours: 4929 Posvar Hall, Wednesdays, 3:00-5:00pm.

Telephone: 412-648-1733

Email: jduffy@pitt.edu

Course Web Page: http://www.pitt.edu/~jduffy/econ1200/

Requirements:  There will be two exams: a midterm and a final examination. You will also have to complete a term project, and a number of homework assignments. The weights given to these requirements in determining your final grade for the course are:

Homeworks 10%

Midterm Exam 30%

Term Project 30%

Final Exam 30%

Course Policies:  Late homeworks and term projects are not accepted.  Make-up exams are not offered. There is no extra credit.

Textbook: Games of Strategy, 3^rd Ed. by Avinash Dixit, Susan Skeath and David Reiley, New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 2009.  This book is required and is available at the Book Center. A copy is also available on 2-hour reserve at the GSPIA Library located in 1400 Posvar Hall.

Recommended supplemental reading: The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business and Life by Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff New York : W.W. Norton, 2008.

Software:  We will make use of the comlabgames software, available at http://www.comlabgames.com for classroom demonstrations of games. You can design the game you develop for your term project using this software.

Grader:  Hong Wu, Office: 4515 Posvar Hall, 412-648-1744, email: how16@pitt.edu . Office hours: Mondays, 2-5 pm.

Course Outline, Exam Schedule and Reading Assignments (subject to change)

1/05-1/12: Elements of a Game, Thinking Strategically, Introduction to comlabgames software.

*Dixit, Skeath and Reiley Chapters 1-2. Dixit and Nalebuff, Chapter 1.

1/17-1/26: Sequential Move Games, Application to Bargaining

*Dixit, Skeath and Reiley Chapter 3. *Dixit, Skeath and Reiley Chapter 18, pp. 703 - 720 only. Dixit and Nalebuff, Chapters 2 and 11.

1/31-2/09: Simultaneous Move Games, Applications to Coordination Problems / Oligopoly

* Dixit, Skeath and Reiley Chapters 4-5.

2/14-2/23: Probability, Expected Payoffs and Expected Utility, Application to Mixed Strategies

Dixit, Skeath and Reiley Chapters 7-8.

Midterm Exam, Tuesday, Feburary 28, in class. Review answers on March 1.

3/06-3/08: Spring Recess: No Class

3/13-3/22: Subgame Perfection, Repeated Games, Evolution of Cooperation

Dixit, Skeath and Reiley Chapters 6 and 11.

3/27-4/05: Incomplete Information Games, Signaling Games, Strategic Moves

Dixit, Skeath and Reiley Chapters 9-10.

4/10-4/19: Strategic Behavior in Elections and Markets

Dixit, Skeath and Reiley Chapters 16 and 19.

Term Project due Tuesday, April 17 .

Final Examination: Consult the final exam schedule for the exact time.

Send mail to jduffy@pitt.edu with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2001-2012 John Duffy,  Last Modified: 01/08/2012