GAMES, INFORMATION AND CONTRACT THEORY AND INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION AND COMPETITION POLICY
GAMES, INFORMATION AND CONTRACT THEORY
Syllabus
Updated A.Y. 2019-2020
Outline (Provisional)
Static games of complete information. The Nash equilibrium in pure strategies. Nash equilibrium in mixed strategies. Cournot's model. Bertrand's model. The tragedy of commons. Dynamic games of complete information. Extensive form games and backward induction. Subgame perfect Nash equilibrium. Stackelberg model of duopoly. Repeated games. The Prisoner’s dilemma. The Folk theorem. Static Games of incomplete Information. Bayesian Nash equilibrium. Basics of Auction theory. Dynamic games of incomplete information. Perfect Bayesian equilibrium. Basics of signalling.
Exam and grading
The exam for the whole course (GAMES, INFORMATION AND CONTRACT THEORY AND INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION AND COMPETITION POLICY) consists in two written tests, one for GAMES, INFORMATION AND CONTRACT THEORY, and one for INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION AND COMPETITION POLICY. The student will receive a mark for each test. The GAMES, INFORMATION AND CONTRACT THEORY test lasts one hour, and it will consist of two exercises on the topics covered in class. In a similar fashion, the INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION exam will last one hour. The two tests must be taken together in the same call (with the exception of the pre-exam, see below).
The final mark is given by: 0.5*(GT) + 0.5*(IO).
To be passed, the final mark in each test must be no lower than 18. All the tests must be passed within one call; otherwise both tests will be re-taken within one call in the next available session.
Pre-exam
A pre-exam of GAMES, INFORMATION AND CONTRACT THEORY will be also available at the end of the corresponding module. The pre-exam is a one-hour written test of Game Theory with the same structure as the exam. If the student passes the pre-exam (mark no lower than 18), she is allowed to take the pre-exam of INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION AND COMPETITION POLICY available at the end of the corresponding module (in December). Notice that the mark of the pre-exam of GAMES, INFORMATION AND CONTRACT THEORY is valid only if the student takes also the pre-exam of INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION AND COMPETITION POLICY. In other words, if the student passes the pre-exam of GAMES, INFORMATION AND CONTRACT THEORY (with a mark no lower than 18) and does not take (or does not pass) the pre-exam of INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION AND COMPETITION POLICY, she will have to take the whole exam again in the next available session. As a consequence, the student is not allowed to use the mark of GAMES, INFORMATION AND CONTRACT THEORY pre-exam in the other calls of the Winter Session or in the Summer and Fall Sessions.
Social Capital Project
The student will be asked to produce a group project on Social Capital. If the latter is delivered by the assigned deadline, the student is allowed to weight the mark of GAMES, INFORMATION AND CONTRACT THEORY as follows:
GT=0.7*(written test) + 0.3*(project).
If the student does not send the Social Capital Project by the assigned deadline she can still take the exam, but she will be evaluated exclusively on the written tests for each module according to the rules specifiend in the section "Exam and Grading".
Main reference
Gibbson, R. (1992), Game theory for applied economists, Princeton University Press.
Office Hours
By appointment.