Games and Information Economics

Duration

30h Th, 15h Pr

Number of credits

Lecturer

Axel Gautier

Language(s) of instruction

English language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

The course of Games and Information Economics focuses on these three key concepts of modern economics: incentives, information and strategic interactions. The objectives of the course are twofold: First, it develops analytical tools to understand strategic interaction between agents. Second, the course abundantly illustrates the main theoretical concepts with real-world examples and applications from economics, finance, politics, etc.
 
The course is organized in 22 modules: Theory (T), Applications (A) and exercises (E).
-Theory
   Formalization of games
   Equilibrium concepts
-Applications
    To economics but not only
-Exercises
   With the teaching assistant
[U]List of modules[/U]
 Introduction
 
1.A short history of game theory (T)
2. Think strategically: bidding on eBay (A)
3. The prisoner's dilemma and dominant strategies (T)
4.Situations of conflict and Nash Equilibrium (T)
5. Nash equilibrium (A)
5.1 Oligopolies, 5.2 Political platforms, 5.3 The tragedy of commons
6. Nash equilibrium (E)
7.Mixed strategies (T)
8. Ronaldo vs Messi (A)
9.Mixed strategies (E)
10.Subgame perfect outcome (A)
10.1 Oligopoly, 10.2 Bargaining, 10.3 Bank runs
11. Subgame perfect outcome (E)
12. Repeated games (A)
12.1 Efficiency wage, 12. 2 Collusion
13. Subgame perfect equilibrium (T)
14. Ultimatum game eand experiments (A & E)
15. Bayesian Games (T)
16. Auctions (A) 17. Bayesian games (E)
18. Signaling games (T) 19.Market for lemons (A)
20. Open source software (A)
21. Signaling games (E)
22. Moral hazard (A)

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Understanding the basic concepts of game theory (strategies, Nash equilibrium...)
Be able to use the game theory toolkit to analyze real-world economic problems

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Basic knowledge of single variable calculus and probability.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Class from 1pm to 4 pm on Wednesday
Classes will be a mix of teaching (3/4) and exercices sessions (1/4)

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

Recommended or required readings

Main reference
A Primer in Game Theory R. Gibbons 1992 Pearson Education (FT)

Assessment methods and criteria

Written exam

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

This course will be given in English

Contacts

Lecturer: Axel GAUTIER Email: agautier@ulg.ac.be Office I.53, BAT B31 (ST) Tel: 04/366.30.53
Assistant: Iman Salem
Email: iman.salem@ulg.ac.be