Professor William Rogerson MMSS 311-1 Advanced Game Theory Course Outline

Winter 2013-14

1.

Contact Information: Office : Andersen 3226 Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00-3:00 I am also happy to stay after class on Monday or Wednesday and answer questions. phone: 491-8484 e-mail: wrogerson@northwestern.edu Texts: Robert Gibbons, Game Theory for Applied Economists, Princeton University Press, 1992. Martin Osborne, An Introduction to Game Theory, Oxford University Press, 2004. On many topics, material from the textbook will be supplemented with handouts. TA Information: Name: Eric Gilson Office Hours: Tuesday, 3:30-5:00, Kresge 1-330 e-mail: ericgilson2014@u.northwestern.edu Grading: Course grades will be based on two mid-term exams, each worth 30%, homework worth 10%, and a final worth 30%. The exams will all be closed book. The final will cover material from the entire course. The midterms and finals are scheduled for the following dates and times: Midterm #1: Monday February 3 in class Midterm #2: Monday February 24 in class Final: Thursday March 20, 9:00-11:00 Seven homework sets will be handed out over the quarter. Homework will generally be handed out in class on Wednesday and will be due the following Wednesday in class. The TA will hand back graded homework and go over answers to the homework on Friday in section. No late homework will be accepted.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Course Website: The course outline, various other documents with course information, homework assignments, answers to homework assignments, midterms and answers to midterms will all be posted on the blackboard website as they become available.

6.

Make-up for Missed Class on Monday January 6 Class will be held on Wednesday March 12 at the regular time (11:00-12:20) to make up for the missed class on Monday January 6. Tentative Schedule of Topics We will cover the material corresponding to Chapters 3- 4 in Gibbons and Chapters 9-10 in Osborne. On many topics, material from the textbook will be supplemented with handouts. Wk 1 Beg Dat Jan 6 Topic Static Games of Incomplete Information; Introduction to IPV Auctions IPV Auctions IPV Auctions Common Value Auctions, Bilateral Trading Games Price Discrimination, Product Quality, and Mechanism Design Review of Dynamic Games with Complete Information, Dynamic Games of Incomplete Information Dynamic Games of Incomplete Information, Signaling Games Signaling Games Signaling Games, Cheap Talk Games Cheap Talk Games, Other Dynamic Games of Incomplete Information

7.

2 3 4. 5.

Jan 13 Jan 20 Jan 27 Feb 3

6.

Feb 10

7.

Feb 17

8. 9. 10.

Feb 24 March 3 March 10

8.

Tentative Schedule of Homework, Exams and TA Session Topics Wk. 1 Beg. Date Jan 6 Homework Hmk #1 handed out Topic of TA Session TA session to review probability and maximization Answers to Hmk #1 Answers to Hmk #2 Answers to Hmk #3

2 3 4

Jan 13 Jan 20* Jan 27

Hmk #2 handed out Hmk #3 handed out No Homework handed out

Feb 3

Midterm #1 on Monday Hmk. #4 handed out Hmk #5 handed out No Homework Midterm #2 on Monday Hmk #6 handed out Hmk #7 handed out

Answers to Midterm #1

6 7 8

Feb 10 Feb 17 Feb 24

Answers to Hmk #4 Answers to Hmk #5 Answers to Midterm #2

Mar 3

Answers to Hmk # 6

10 11

Mar 10**

no homework handed out

Answers to Hmk #7

Final Exam: Thursday, March 20, 9:00-11:00

* **

No class on Monday January 20 due to MLK day. Note that class will be held on Wednesday March 12 to make-up for the missed class on Monday January 6.