This course will teach the basic elements of game theory with applications to political science and other social sciences. It will cover simultaneous games, extensive-form games, repeated games, and spatial models of elections. The course will also focus on using the logic of games to make inferences and arguments about political and social behavior, with readings on collective action, voting, bargaining, repeated interaction, war, and other examples.

Upon completing this course, students should be able to:

1. Solve basic and intermediate games, including simultaneous-move and extensive-form games, as well as basic games of asymmetric information
2. Discuss political phenomena using logical concepts from game theory
3. Illustrate how political scientists have used the ideas of game theory to make arguments about political phenomena, such as elections, political bargaining, and war
4. Create and solve an original model designed to understand a social or political problem of interest

Problem Sets (30%) (Learning Outcome 1)

Short Paper on an Original Model (20%) (~2-3 pages) (Learning Outcomes 1, 4)

Final Exam (40%) (Learning Outcomes 1-3)

Tutorial Participation (10%) (Learning Outcomes 1-3)

There will be two one-hour lectures and one tutorial per week.  Students should allow 6-7 hours for reading and preparing assignments.

6 units of 1000-level POLS courses.

Students should be familiar and comfortable with mathematical problem-solving, including algebra and geometry.

None

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