Game Theory

Assoc. Prof. Chris Ball

Economics Department

Email:

Office phone: +1 203 582 8745

Office Location: 4th Floor Rocky Top Student Center

QU Course Number: EC 355

Days: TBD

Time: TBD

Location: TBD

Notes and Handouts

Most of these are still based on the Watson textbook which I always used (see Book Recommendations)

Dynamic Monopoly (download)
Bayesian Asymmetric Information Games
- Education Signaling Game (download)

Excel Sheets to make Diagrams

You can use these to make your own diagrams or make your own. Here's a short instructional video on how to use them (download)

Normal Form Games (download)
Extensive Form Games (download)
Bayesian Games (download)

Other Stuff from My Class

Excel 2x2 Nash Solver (download)

This is an excel sheet I made to help you check your answers. It will find pure and mixed Nash equilibria and it will identify strictly dominated strategies. Be careful though, the mixed calculations can get funky for some payoffs. So, still check your answers with pen and paper. This is a helpful tool, not a substitute for actually solving the games yourself.

BOOK Recommendations

Joel Watson, " Strategy: An Introduction to Game Theory (Third Edition)" I found this to be the best undergrad text to use and used it for years. I highly recommend it.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

Mixed Strategies - YouTube Video that's presented similar to the way we do in class. Note: I let p = prob(P2 chooses s1) and q = prob(P1 chooses s1). They switch them in this video. Otherwise, very similar to how I present it.
Another version of Harsanyi's Centipede game - YouTube Video, useful for understanding strategies and backward induction, extensive form games.
Bridge Burning and Commitment - YouTube Video, useful for extensive forms, SPE, and also understanding the key nature of strategies and commitment
Joel Watson's lectures for undergrads. The great thing is that all his notation will be the same as what we use since we follow his textbook closely.