INSE 6441 Game Theory and Mechanism Design (Fall 2018)

Instructor: Jia Yuan Yu.

Lectures: Thurdays, 17:45--20:15, room H 557.

Office hours: Fridays, 15:45--17:45 in room EV7.635.

Course description: This is a first course in game theory, with applications, and a project.

References:

• Game Theory, D. Fudenberg and J. Tirole.
• Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict, R. Myerson.
• Microeconomics Theory, Andreu Mas-Colell, Michael D. Whinston, Jerry R. Green.

Announcements

• Course Outline: [PDF].

Lecture notes

• Lecture 1: Intro, Strategic Form, Dominance [PDF].
• Lecture 2: Equilibrium, Competition [PDF].
• Lecture 3: Existence [PDF]. Assignment 1 [PDF].
• Lecture 4: Dynamic Games [PDF].
• Lecture 5: Subgame Perfect Equilibrium, Backward Induction, Chance Moves [PDF].
• Lecture 6: Bayesian Games [PDF].
• Lecture 7: Mechanism Design, Incentive Compatibility [PDF].
• Lecture 8: Revelation Principle, VCG Mechanism [PDF]. Assignment 2 [PDF].
• Midterm exam.
• Lecture 9 (March 21, 2017): Revenue Equivalence (preceded by a guest lecture by Kai Chan [Slides]) [PDF].
• Lecture 10: Individual Rationality, Impossibility [PDF].
• Lecture 11: Refinements: Perfect Bayesian Equilibrium, Signaling Game [PDF].
• Lecture 12: Refinements: Trembling-hand Perfection [PDF].

Projects

Option 1: a literature survey on one of the topics in the course syllabus not covered in class. The survey should be complete, including motivation, classical and recent solution approaches, their comparison, open problems, etc.

Option 2: an application of game theory methods to solve a new problem (e.g., using dataset found on the Internet, from open-data initiatives, government agencies, etc.). Here, you will motivate the problem, model it, propose a solution approach, and analyse this solution.

Whether you choose option 1 or 2, you will have to produce a concise report (neither too short nor too long), and give a presentation on it.