Game Theory 101

Ready to learn game theory? You are in the right place. The list below grants you full access to all of the Game Theory 101 lectures. Click on a topic to get started. (And consider purchasing the companion textbook for $4.99. It closely follows the first four units of this course. I receive a commission from Amazon for each item ordered through this link.)

The Basics

  1. The Prisoner’s Dilemma and Strict Dominance
  2. Iterated Elimination of Strictly Dominated Strategies
  3. Pure Strategy Nash Equilibrium and the Stag Hunt
  4. What Is a Nash Equilibrium?
  5. Best Responses
  6. Matching Pennies and Mixed Strategy Nash Equilibrium
  7. The Mixed Strategy Algorithm
  8. How NOT to Write a Mixed Strategy Nash Equilibrium
  9. Battle of the Sexes
  10. Calculating Payoffs
  11. Strict Dominance in Mixed Strategies
  12. Weak Dominance
  13. Infinitely Many Equilibria
  14. The Odd Rule

Extensive Form Games

  1. Subgame Perfect Equilibrium
  2. Backward Induction
  3. How NOT to Write a Subgame Perfect Equilibrium
  4. Multiple Subgame Perfect Equilibria
  5. Games with Stages
  6. Punishment Strategies
  7. Tying Hands (Burning Bridges)
  8. Commitment Problems
  9. The Centipede Game
  10. Problems with Backward Induction
  11. Forward Induction

Advanced Strategic Form Games

  1. Probability Distributions
  2. Generalized Battle of the Sexes
  3. Knife-Edge Equilibria
  4. Soccer Penalty Kicks
  5. Comparative Statics
  6. The Support of Mixed Strategies
  7. A Trick with Weak Dominance
  8. Rock Paper Scissors
  9. Symmetric, Zero Sum Games
  10. Modified Rock Paper Scissors
  11. Mixing among Three Strategies

Games with Infinite Strategy Spaces

  1. A Game with No Equilibria
  2. Duels
  3. Hotelling’s Game and the Median Voter Theorem
  4. Second Price Auctions

Expected Utility Theory

  1. Introduction to Expected Utility Theory
  2. The Completeness Axiom
  3. The Transitivity Axiom
  4. Rationality
  5. Condorcet’s Paradox and Social Preferences
  6. Lotteries
  7. Independence over Lotteries
  8. The Allais Paradox
  9. The Continuity Axiom
  10. Expected Utility Transformations
  11. Pareto Efficiency
  12. Risk Averse, Risk Neutral, and Risk Acceptant Preferences

Repeated Games

  1. Repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma (Finite)
  2. Discount Factors
  3. Geometric Series and Infinite Payoffs
  4. The One-Shot Deviation Principle
  5. Grim Trigger in the Repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma
  6. Tit-for-Tat in the Repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma
  7. Tit-for-Tat Isn’t Subgame Perfect
  8. The Folk Theorem
  9. Repeated Games and the Prediction Problem

Bayesian-Nash Equilibrium

  1. Introduction to Incomplete Information
  2. Bayesian Nash Equilibrium
  3. Finding Bayesian Nash Equilibrium with Nash Equilibrium
  4. Ex Ante and Interim Dominance
  5. Why Are There Antes in Poker?
  6. Is More Information Always Better?
  7. Continuous Types and Cutpoint Strategies
  8. The Purification Theorem
  9. Bayes’ Rule
  10. The Winner’s Curse

Perfect Bayesian Equilibrium

  1. Perfect Bayesian Equilibrium
  2. Screening Games
  3. Adverse Selection
  4. Signaling Games and Updating Beliefs
  5. Separating Equilibrium
  6. Pooling Equilibrium
  7. Off-the-Path Beliefs
  8. The Beer-Quiche Game
  9. Semi-Separating/Partially-Pooling Equilibrium

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