After this course students know the basic concepts of game theory and their applications to economics.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT METHOD(S) USED IN THIS COURSE IS WITH RESERVATION. THE INFORMATION PROVIDED HERE IS BASED ON THE COURSE SETUP PRIOR TO THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS. AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE CRISIS, COURSE COORDINATORS MAY BE FORCED TO CHANGE THE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT METHODS USED. THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TEACHING/ASSESSMENT METHOD(S) WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE COURSE SYLLABUS.

In many situations, economic actors need to make decision while knowing that the final outcome will also depend on the decisions of others. Think, for instance, of competing firms who must choose a price for their product, knowing that their market share will also depend on the prices of the competitors. Such situations are called games, and the actors involved are called players. In order to reach a good decision, it is important for a player to reason about the decisions and motivations of his opponents. In this course you learn how to reason about your opponents in game theoretic situations, and how to use this reasoning to make good decisions. The theory will be applied to various economic situations of interest.

Andrés Perea: "Epistemic Game Theory: Reasoning and Choice", Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Basic knowledge of standard calculus, as taught in the first year of an average program in economics or business. For students from Maastricht: level of QM1 and QM2.