24960 - Game theory

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student knows how to identify environments with strategic interaction and to use the formal language of game theory. He/she is able to recognize the major strategic ingredients and to predict behavior and outcomes in both real and abstract games. He/she understands the role of information and of dynamics in strategic interaction environments.

Course contents

Prerequisite knowledge: Microeconomics - Master level

1. Games in normal form

2. Games in extensive form

3. Nash equilibrium

4. Refinement of Nash Equilibrium

5. Games of incomplete information

6. Mechanism design

7. Signaling models

Readings/Bibliography

Selected chapters from

Microeconomic Theory, Andreu Mas-Colell, Michael D. Whinston and Jerry R. Green, Oxford University press

A Primer in Game Theory, Robert Gibbons, Pearson

Assessment methods

Home assignments: 3 problem sets (30% of final grade)

Home assignments may contain both theoretical questions (such as propositions that students may be asked to prove) and exercises. Home assignments may be handed in individually or in groups of at most four students.

Final exam: written (70% of final grade)

The final exam will last 2 hours, will be "closed book" and will also contain both theoretical questions and exercises. Its grade can be rejected at most once. The evaluation depends on the correctness, completeness and rigor of the answers.

Final grade

The final grade in Game Theory will be the weighted average of the grades in home assignments and the final exam.

The final grade in Microeconomics (I.C.) is the simple average of those in Microeconomics and Game Theory.

Grading scale:

<18 failed
18-23 sufficient
24-27 good
28-30 very good
30 e lode outstanding

Teaching tools

Slides prepared by the instructor will be made available online on the course's VIRTUALE platform.

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Mattozzi