There are 8 modules in this course

Popularized by movies such as “A Beautiful Mind,” game theory is the mathematical modeling of strategic interaction among rational (and irrational) agents. Beyond what we call `games’ in common language, such as chess, poker, soccer, etc., it includes the modeling of conflict among nations, political campaigns, competition among firms, and trading behavior in markets such as the NYSE. How could you begin to model keyword auctions, and peer to peer file-sharing networks, without accounting for the incentives of the people using them? The course will provide the basics: representing games and strategies, the extensive form (which computer scientists call game trees), Bayesian games (modeling things like auctions), repeated and stochastic games, and more. We’ll include a variety of examples including classic games and a few applications.

You can find a full syllabus and description of the course here: http://web.stanford.edu/~jacksonm/GTOC-Syllabus.html

You can find an introductory video here: http://web.stanford.edu/~jacksonm/Intro_Networks.mp4

Week 1: Introduction and Overview
Module 1•3 hours to complete

Module details

Introduction, overview, uses of game theory, some applications and examples, and formal definitions of: the normal form, payoffs, strategies, pure strategy Nash equilibrium, dominant strategies

What’s included

11 videos2 readings2 quizzes3 discussion prompts

Show info about module content

11 videos•Total 79 minutes
Introductory Video•8 minutes•Preview module
1-1 Game Theory Intro – TCP Backoff •11 minutes
1-2 Self-Interested Agents and Utility Theory •3 minutes
1-3 Defining Games •10 minutes
1-4 Examples of Games •5 minutes
1-5 Nash Equilibrium Intro •4 minutes
1-6 Strategic Reasoning •10 minutes
1-7 Best Response and Nash Equilibrium •2 minutes
1-8 Nash Equilibrium of Example Games •6 minutes
1-9 Dominant Strategies •7 minutes
1-10 Pareto Optimality •8 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
Syllabus•10 minutes
A Brief Introduction to the Basics of Game Theory•10 minutes
2 quizzes•Total 60 minutes
In-Video Quizzes Week 1•30 minutes
Problem Set 1•30 minutes
3 discussion prompts•Total 30 minutes
Play the TCP game if you like•10 minutes
Play some games after Lecture 1.4 if you like•10 minutes
Play Keynes Beauty Contest Game if you like•10 minutes

Week 2: Mixed-Strategy Nash Equilibrium
Module 2•2 hours to complete

Module details

pure and mixed strategy Nash equilibria

What’s included

7 videos2 quizzes

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7 videos•Total 75 minutes
2-1 Mixed Strategies and Nash Equilibrium (I) •2 minutes•Preview module
2-2 Mixed Strategies and Nash Equilibrium (II)•14 minutes
2-3 Computing Mixed Nash Equilibrium •11 minutes
2-4 Hardness Beyond 2×2 Games – Basic •5 minutes
2-4 Hardness Beyond 2×2 Games – Advanced •20 minutes
2-5 Example: Mixed Strategy Nash •10 minutes
2-6 Data: Professional Sports and Mixed Strategies •10 minutes
2 quizzes•Total 60 minutes
In-Video Quizzes Week 2•30 minutes
Problem Set 2•30 minutes

Week 3: Alternate Solution Concepts
Module 3•2 hours to complete

Module details

Iterative removal of strictly dominated strategies, minimax strategies and the minimax theorem for zero-sum game, correlated equilibria

What’s included

6 videos2 quizzes

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6 videos•Total 63 minutes
3-1 Beyond the Nash Equilibrium •3 minutes•Preview module
3-2 Strictly Dominated Strategies & Iterative Removal •19 minutes
3-3 Dominated Strategies & Iterative Removal: An Application •9 minutes
3-4 Maxmin Strategies •9 minutes
3-4 Maxmin Strategies – Advanced•16 minutes
3-5 Correlated Equilibrium: Intuition •5 minutes
2 quizzes•Total 60 minutes
In-Video Quizzes Week 3•30 minutes
Problem Set 3•30 minutes

Week 4: Extensive-Form Games
Module 4•3 hours to complete

Module details

Perfect information games: trees, players assigned to nodes, payoffs, backward Induction, subgame perfect equilibrium, introduction to imperfect-information games, mixed versus behavioral strategies.

What’s included

10 videos2 quizzes2 discussion prompts

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10 videos•Total 101 minutes
4-1 Perfect Information Extensive Form: Taste •3 minutes•Preview module
4-2 Formalizing Perfect Information Extensive Form Games •6 minutes
4-3 Perfect Information Extensive Form: Strategies, BR, NE •13 minutes
4-4 Subgame Perfection •9 minutes
4-5 Backward Induction •13 minutes
4-6 Subgame Perfect Application: Ultimatum Bargaining•17 minutes
4-7 Imperfect Information Extensive Form: Poker •3 minutes
4-8 Imperfect Information Extensive Form: Definition, Strategies •10 minutes
4-9 Mixed and Behavioral Strategies •8 minutes
4-10 Incomplete Information in the Extensive Form: Beyond Subgame Perfection •13 minutes
2 quizzes•Total 60 minutes
In-Video Quizzes Week 4•30 minutes
Problem Set 4•30 minutes
2 discussion prompts•Total 20 minutes
Play the Centipede Game if you like•10 minutes
Play the Rainbow Warship game if you like•10 minutes

Week 5: Repeated Games
Module 5•2 hours to complete

Module details

Repeated prisoners dilemma, finite and infinite repeated games, limited-average versus future-discounted reward, folk theorems, stochastic games and learning.

What’s included

7 videos2 quizzes2 discussion prompts

Show info about module content

7 videos•Total 87 minutes
5-1 Repeated Games •6 minutes•Preview module
5-2 Infinitely Repeated Games: Utility •6 minutes
5-3 Stochastic Games •5 minutes
5-4 Learning in Repeated Games •15 minutes
5-5 Equilibria of Infinitely Repeated Games •28 minutes
5-6 Discounted Repeated Games •13 minutes
5-7 A Folk Theorem for Discounted Repeated Games •10 minutes
2 quizzes•Total 60 minutes
In-Video Quizzes Week 5•30 minutes
Problem Set 5•30 minutes
2 discussion prompts•Total 20 minutes
Play some repeated games if you like•10 minutes
Play the repeated battle of the sexes game•10 minutes

Week 6: Bayesian Games
Module 6•1 hour to complete

Module details

General definitions, ex ante/interim Bayesian Nash equilibrium.

What’s included

6 videos2 quizzes

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6 videos•Total 52 minutes
6-1 Bayesian Games: Taste •6 minutes•Preview module
6-2 Bayesian Games: First Definition •9 minutes
6-2 Bayesian Games: First Defintion (yoav)•8 minutes
6-3 Bayesian Games: Second Definition •6 minutes
6-4 Analyzing Bayesian Games •11 minutes
6-5 Analyzing Bayesian Games: Another Example •10 minutes
2 quizzes•Total 60 minutes
In-Video Quizzes Week 6•30 minutes
Problem Set 6•30 minutes

Week 7: Coalitional Games
Module 7•1 hour to complete

Module details

Transferable utility cooperative games, Shapley value, Core, applications.

What’s included

5 videos2 quizzes

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5 videos•Total 52 minutes
7-1 Coalitional Game Theory: Taste •4 minutes•Preview module
7-2 Coalitional Game Theory: Definitions •6 minutes
7-3 The Shapley Value •16 minutes
7-4 The Core •14 minutes
7-5 Comparing the Core and Shapley value in an Example •10 minutes
2 quizzes•Total 60 minutes
In-Video Quizzes Week 7•30 minutes
Problem Set 7•30 minutes

Week 8: Final Exam
Module 8•30 minutes to complete

Module details

The description goes here