ECON 7062 - Game Theory PG

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2017

This course provides an introduction to Game Theory. Game Theory is a mathematical framework which makes possible the analysis of the decision making process of interdependent subjects. It is aimed at explaining and predicting how individuals behave in a specific strategic situation, and therefore help improve decision making. A situation is strategic if the outcome of a decision problem depends on the choices of more than one person. Most decision problems in real life are strategic. The course will explain in depth the standard equilibrium concepts (such as Nash Equilibrium, Subgame-Perfect Nash Equilibrium, and others) in Game Theory. To illustrate the concepts, real-world examples, case studies, and classroom experiments might be used. Students will also participate in a group project involving the use of Game Theory to model contemporary issues.

  • General Course Information
    Course Details
    Course Code ECON 7062
    Course Game Theory PG
    Coordinating Unit Economics
    Term Semester 2
    Level Postgraduate Coursework
    Location/s North Terrace Campus
    Units 3
    Contact Up to 4 hours per week
    Available for Study Abroad and Exchange Y
    Restrictions Available to MFin&BusEc, GCertAppEc, GCertIntEc, GDipIntEc, GDipAppEc, MAppEc students only
    Course Description This course provides an introduction to Game Theory. Game Theory is a mathematical framework which makes possible the analysis of the decision making process of interdependent subjects. It is aimed at explaining and predicting how individuals behave in a specific strategic situation, and therefore help improve decision making. A situation is strategic if the outcome of a decision problem depends on the choices of more than one person. Most decision problems in real life are strategic.
    The course will explain in depth the standard equilibrium concepts (such as Nash Equilibrium, Subgame-Perfect Nash Equilibrium, and others) in Game Theory. To illustrate the concepts, real-world examples, case studies, and classroom experiments might be used.
    Students will also participate in a group project involving the use of Game Theory to model contemporary issues.
    Course Staff

    Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Virginie Masson

    Office hours: TBA (See MyUni)

    Office location: Nexus 10, Level 4, Room 4.29

    Telephone: 8313 4926

    Preferred method of contact: email. Please do not call unless absolutely necessary.
    Course Timetable

    The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

  • Learning Outcomes
    Course Learning Outcomes
    On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
    1 Identify strategic situations and represent them as games.
    2 Solve simple games using various techniques.
    3 Analyse economic situations using game theoretic techniques.
    4 Recommend and prescribe which strategies to implement.
    University Graduate Attributes

    This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

    University Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s)
    Deep discipline knowledge
    • informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies
    • acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1
    • accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)
    1-4
    Critical thinking and problem solving
    • steeped in research methods and rigor
    • based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development
    • demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment
    1-4
    Teamwork and communication skills
    • developed from, with, and via the SGDE
    • honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies
    • encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning
    3
    Career and leadership readiness
    • technology savvy
    • professional and, where relevant, fully accredited
    • forward thinking and well informed
    • tested and validated by work based experiences
    1-4
    Self-awareness and emotional intelligence
    • a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal
    • open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers
    • able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate
    3
  • Learning Resources
    Required Resources

    Textbook:

    Strategy: An Introduction to Game Theory, by Joel Watson, W. W.Norton & Company, 3rd edition

    Recommended Resources

    An Introduction to Game Theory, by Martin J. Osborne, Oxford University Press, USA (August 1, 2003)

    Games of Strategy, Second Edition, by Avinash K. Dixit and Susan Skeath, W. W. Norton & Company; 2nd edition (April 2004)

    Online Learning

    This course uses MyUni intensively and you are required to check the website regularly.

    https://myuni.adelaide.edu.au/webapps/login/ 

    Course material such as lectures notes, assignments, assignment answer guides and supplementary material for developing your mathematical skills are available under MyUni. Also, a discussion board will be available for questions you may want to ask your lecturer or fellow classmates.

    Game theory is best learnt through practice and hence, your attendance to and participation in lectures and workshops is mandatory.

  • Learning & Teaching Activities
    Learning & Teaching Modes

    WORKSHOPS:
    Exercises to be prepared for the workshop will be posted online a week before. You are required to prepare ALL the exercises. During the workshop, some students will be asked to come to the board and present their work. Your lecturer will provide assistance if needed and questions from other students are strongly encouraged. This system works on a voluntary basis. However, in the absence of any volunteer, your lecturer reserves the right to terminate the workshop early. These workshops are aimed to guide you with the preparation of your assignments, not spoon-feed you answers.
    You will also discuss the progress of your group project with your group members and the lecturer. This will ensure that the work you will submit by the end of the semester is of satisfactory level. Independent meetings will be scheduled as needed to ensure that projects requirements are met.

    LECTURES:
     
    The lectures will provide you with the necessary understanding of the material to be able to solve the exercises you will be given for
    assignments or exams. Examples will be used to illustrate the concepts presented in this course. Sessions will be interactive and are designed to be delivered face-to-face.

    Workload

    The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

    The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies.

    This translates to 12 hours per week for a semester course.
    Learning Activities Summary
    Teaching & Learning Activities Related Learning Outcomes
    Lectures 1 - 4
    Workshops 1 - 4

    LECTURE SCHEDULE


    Week
    LECTURE SCHEDULE SUBJECT TO MINOR CHANGES

    Title


    Chapters
    1 Introduction - Extensive Form - Strategies and The Normal Form
    Beliefs, Mixed Strategies, and Expected Payoffs - General Assumptions and Methodology
    Chapters 1 to 3
    Chapters 4 and 5
    2 Dominance and Best response - Rationalizability and Iterated Dominance
    Nash Equilibrium
    Chapters 6 and 7
    Chapters 9 and 10
    3 Mixed-Strategy Nash Equilibrium – Strictly Competitive Games and Security Strategies Chapters 11 and 12
    4 Details of the Extensive Form - Backward Induction and Subgame Perfection Chapters 14 and 15
    5 Games with Continuous Strategies N/A
    6 Bayesian Nash Equilibrium, Rationalizability Chapters 26 and 27
    7 Perfect Bayesian Equilibrium - Job Market Signaling and Reputation Chapters 28 and 29
    8 Class Test Review and Class Test
    Mid Semester Break
    9 Sequential Equilibrium N/A
    10 Repeated Games, Reputation, Random Events and Incomplete Information Chapters 22 and 24
    11 Bargaining Problems - Analysis of Simple Bargaining Games Chapters 18 and 19
    12 Review for Final Exam  N/A
     

    Specific Course Requirements

    IMPORTANT NOTE: This course ‘ECON7011 Game Theory IIID’ is closely associated with an undergraduate course, ‘ECON3503 Game Theory III’. Although the core material covered will be the same for both groups, there are differences in the expectations for the depth of understanding of the material. Also, assessment tasks are different. If you have any queries or concerns about the distinction between your course and the undergraduate course, please contact the lecturer.

  • Assessment

    The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

    1. Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
    2. Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
    3. Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
    4. Assessment must maintain academic standards.

    Assessment Summary
    Assessment Task Due Date/ Week Weight Length(Word,Time) Learning Outcomes
    Mid-term Exam Week 8 20% During lecture time, same location 1 - 4
    Project Week TBA, due end of Sept 20% TBA 1 - 4
    Workshop Participation Week TBA 10% N/A 1 - 4
    Assignment
    (some may involve group work)
    Weekly 10% TBA 1 - 4
    Final Exam Week TBA 40% 3 hours 1 - 4
    Total 100%
    Mid semester exam  (Week 8) - 20%   

    Date and time: During lecture time, same location 

    This exam will assess the topics of Weeks 1 to 7. It will consist of mathematical problems and short answer questions. Past mid semester exam papers will be available on MyUni, for which no answers will be provided. You are however encouraged to talk about the past exams and their solutions on the discussion board or in my office hours.

    Project - 20%

    Due at the end of the Semester

    You will be asked to use your game theoretic skills to model and solve a contemporary economic problem. Discussions about the projects will be held during tutorial times.

    Workshop Participation - 5%

    Weekly

    You will be asked to prepare some exercises before going to your workshop. Please be aware that this preparation is important as it will improve your learning during the workshop and will contribute towards a dynamic environment where students and lecturer will interact more actively with one another. Workshop participation will be graded as described in the following “Assessment Details” section.

    Assignments - 15%

    Weekly 

    Assignments are to be submitted on time. Some assignments may be group assignments.


    Final Exam - 40%

    There will be a 3 hour exam. The final exam is comprehensive, i.e. it can cover ALL the topics
    Assessment Related Requirements

    To gain a pass, a mark of at least 45% must be obtained on the final examination as well as a total of at least 50% overall.

    Assessment Detail
    Important Notes on Assessments:

    1 - Failure to sit the midterm examination will result in receiving zero points, whether a medical certificate is provided or not. The grade of the final examination will then account for 60% of the overall grade.

    2 - The ‘workshop participation’ component of the assessment will be partly based on your attempt to answer an exercise on the board during the workshop. You will be allocated one of three possible grades, 1, 3 or 5, based on the quality of your answer. You may volunteer multiple times, and have the opportunity to improve your grade for this component throughout the semester. However if you already have a grade for this, you will only be permitted to volunteer for a question if there are no other volunteers who haven’t yet received a mark for participation. The other 5% of this component will reflect your active participation. Obviously, it will be correlated with your attendance as it is not possible to actively participate if you are not present.

    3 - You will be eligible for the participation grade if and only if the lecturer has recorded that you have volunteered to provide a SATISFACTORY answer to the class for at least one of the weekly assignment questions during the course. Please see your lecturer if you have any concerns.

    4 - If you are unable to attend workshops, lectures or hand in your assignments for some medical reasons, you have to provide a medical certificate. If the medical certificate covers a period longer than a week, you will need to organise some other arrangements with the lecturer. The same applies if you provide more than two medical certificates during the semester.

    5 – If you are unable to attend workshops, lectures or hand in your assignments for any other reasons, you MUST contact your lecturer so that suitable alternative arrangements can be found.

    6 - Legible hand-writing and the quality of English expression are considered to be integral parts of the assessment process. Marks may be deducted in the final examination because of poor hand-writing.

    8 – If no students have prepared the workshop exercises and no students volunteer for answering an exercise, the lecturer reserves the right to shorten the workshop.

    9 - Assessment marks prior to the final exam may be displayed on the course website. Students are encouraged to check their marks and notify the lecturer of any discrepancies.
    Submission
    No late assignments accepted. Exceptional circumstances will be evaluated by your lecturer on a case-by-case basis and should be discussed whenever possible at least 48 hours before the due date. Failure to hand in an assignment on time will lead to a zero mark.





    Course Grading

    Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

    M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
    Grade Mark Description
    FNS   Fail No Submission
    F 1-49 Fail
    P 50-64 Pass
    C 65-74 Credit
    D 75-84 Distinction
    HD 85-100 High Distinction
    CN   Continuing
    NFE   No Formal Examination
    RP   Result Pending

    Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

    Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

    Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

    Additional Assessment

    If a student receives 45-49 for their final mark for the course they will automatically be granted an additional assessment. This will most likely be in the form of a new exam (Additional Assessment) and will have the same weight as the original exam unless an alternative requirement (for example a hurdle requirement) is stated in this semester’s Course Outline. If, after replacing the original exam mark with the new exam mark, it is calculated that the student has passed the course, they will receive 50 Pass as their final result for the course (no higher) but if the calculation totals less than 50, their grade will be Fail and the higher of the original mark or the mark following the Additional Assessment will be recorded as the final result.
  • Student Feedback

    The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

    SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

  • Student Support
  • Policies & Guidelines
  • Fraud Awareness

    Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

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