Undergraduate Course: Economics of Strategic Behaviour (ECNM10013)
Course Outline
| School | School of Economics |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 40 |
ECTS Credits | 20 |
| Summary | This course is about economic decisions that involve conflict and interdependency in an essential way. Situations in which what one person, or firm, or government does affects the opportunities, profits, and welfare of others, and vice versa, are ubiquitous in the real world e.g., bidding for a house, negotiating a wage rise, introducing a new product, setting macroeconomic targets. New insights have been gained into these problems by the application of game theory. This can be defined as the study of models of conflict, and cooperation, between rational decision-makers who know what they want and do their best to get it. |
| Course description |
This course is concerned with the analysis of economic problems that involve strategic interaction. The principal tool in this analysis will be the theory of games. The purpose of this course is to introduce the basic concepts of game theory and show how they can be of use in the analysis of economic problems and policy issues.
Topics covered include:
Static games with complete information, Basic concepts. Nash equilibrium. Dominant strategies. Mixed strategies. Examples: Cournot, "tragedy of the commons", tennis.
Dynamic games with complete information: Games in extensive form. Subgame perfection. Timing, commitment. Examples: policy credibility, repeated games.
Additional Topics: evolutionary game theory, matching
Static games with incomplete information: Bayesian approach to games of asymmetric information; Examples: auctions.
Dynamic games with incomplete information: Perfect Bayesian equilibrium; Examples: job market signalling, reputation, credibility.
The course is taught through a programme of lectures and tutorials. Learning-by-doing, through problem solving and discussion of exercise sets, is an important ingredient of the course.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- A broad knowledge and understanding of key principles of static and dynamic game theory in an incomplete information settings, and associated mathematical and statistical techniques, along with applications and/or policy implications of those models and a deeper understanding of recent research activity in some more specialised areas.
- Research and investigative skills such as problem framing and solving and the ability to assemble and evaluate complex evidence and arguments.
- Communication skills in order to critique, create and communicate understanding.
- Personal effectiveness through task-management, time-management, dealing with uncertainty and adapting to new situations, personal and intellectual autonomy through independent learning.
- Practical/technical skills such as, modelling skills (abstraction, logic, succinctness), qualitative and quantitative analysis.
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Reading List
| Steven Tadelis, Game Theory: An Introduction. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
See Learning Outcomes |
| Keywords | ESBfull |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Ed Hopkins
Tel: (0131 6)50 3061
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Anna Domagala
Tel: (0131 6)51 5305
Email: |
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