Taught by Professor Jay R. Corrigan, an award-winning teacher at Kenyon College, this course introduces you to game theory, which is the study of how people make strategic decisions in business, commerce, and a host of other activities. Focusing on the fundamentals, Professor Corrigan explains the principles of games and the best strategies, while opening your eyes to the games going on all around you.
Understanding Economics: Game Theory
Optimize your life with game theory-the study of how people make decisions. An award-winning teacher explains the basics.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Cleo from
Great Course
This is a great course; I can't believe I got it on sale. The information in this is golden and if you are a economics geek like me then you'll love it. The professor breaks things down very simply. This is simply a great course.
Date published: 2023-07-12
Rated 4 out of
5
by
VikY from
Game theory is a interesting topic and presented very well. The only my problem was I ordered an audio course but there is some graphs and pictures along, I would prefer a video version for better comprehension
Date published: 2022-12-03
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Hotel Whiskey from
Fascinating
This course is a delight: Lesson 1 (“Big Pig, Little Pig” and “The Prisoner’s Dilemma”), Lesson 2 (“Price-fixing in Higher Education”), Lesson 5 (“Run or Pass” football), Lesson 9 (“Dueling”), Lessons 10 & 11 (Auctions). What a variety! And Prof. Corrigan’s organization and delivery are flawless. Definitely, economics theory of the non-dismal kind. Also, the visuals are excellent. HWF & ISF, Mesa AZ.
Date published: 2022-08-17
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Canton from
A good introduction to game theory
I'm chairing a dissertation on the ultimatum game and this was a good review on the basic games and what regression questions on utility and revenge the PhD student can use.
Date published: 2021-11-30
Rated 4 out of
5
by
ConsciousClay from
A good guidebook with an excellent bibliography
Pros
• A broadly annotated bibliography with highly interesting and important references.
• The guidebook has an agreeable design and its writing is clear and concise.
• The lecturer's presentation was well-paced.
Cons
• The reading of payoff matrices was poorly explained. As a consequence, the use of graphics in the presentations to illustrate the matrices was distracting.
• The nuggets of knowledge worth having are sprinkled throughout. While there are important lessons to learn from Game Theory, time would more efficiently be spent studying the referenced material in the bibliography than attending to the lectures or reading the guidebook.
Date published: 2021-06-12
Rated 5 out of
5
by
trunyan from
Very interesting and well explained topic (mostly)
I very much enjoyed this series! Just like when I took a statistics class in college I find myself viewing many things in a different light. Game theory, it appears, is everywhere. I guess I just didn't notice it before. Professor Corrigan explains things in a way that is generally easy to understand. (I'm still not completely clear on lecture 6 but I think that's on me.) I almost gave 4 stars because of lecture 6 and the slightly annoying accent progression. (Lecture 1 could be a midwestern news anchor but by lecture 11 it sounds like he's impersonating Matthew McConaughey.) However, the substance of the lectures is really amazing and enlightening and to his credit, accessible to me. I hope he makes a sequel series! I think video was best because the graphs are helpful to understand complex areas in my opinion.
Date published: 2021-04-03
Rated 5 out of
5
by
RobRD from
Useful and well presented
This was an enjoyable and useful Course.
Jay C explained things clearly and pointed out where a concept applied in real life.
Date published: 2021-03-28
Rated 4 out of
5
by
BGZredix from
A Worthwhile Intro
If you are attracted to math and economics, and know little about game theory, this course is a worthwhile introduction. By way of definition, for an economist a game "has two or more players who choose what to do based on what they think other players will do. In other words, a game is strategic, and game theory is the formalized study of interactions between strategic players."
The course starts with the famous Prisoner's Dilemma and develops basic analyses of various other types of games from there. (If you have never heard of the Prisoner's Dilemma, I suggest you read about it first. Whether you find yourself drawn to it may be a good indicator of whether you will appreciate this course.)
Professor Corrigan is excellent at explaining his topic - clear, organized, and enthusiastic. His focus is very much on the pure logic of analyzing the games, and a moderate amount of math is employed. It is mostly first-year algebra, but the basic ideas can be well understood even if you choose not to follow the mathematics in detail. And I found the lectures on auctions, our professor's own research area, to be particularly fascinating.
My personal disappointment with the course may not apply to others. The lectures describe the games' logic with relatively little discussion of how real people deal with similar situations in real life. This is treated to some extent, but minimally. I wish more attention had been paid to the fascinating field of behavioral economics, the study of the actual irrationality of much human behavior which has so thoroughly changed the traditional economics approach of treating all people as rational actors, and to how behavioral economics can be applied to game theory.
Also - our professor often repeats the same basic points, often in the same words, again and again and again. And again. The actual information content of the course could, in my always humble opinion, have been presented in six rather than twelve lectures.
And one comment about a very weird point. In the lectures on auctions, paying what you value for something is (repeatedly) said to be "like paying $10 for a $10 bill." Well, no. I might pay $10 for a book that I value at $10, but I can read the book and I can't read the bill.
So - consider this course carefully. It may be very worthwhile for those interested. But be sure you know what you will be getting, so you don't pay more than $10 for a $10 bill. Enjoy.
Date published: 2021-03-18
Overview
About
Jay R. Corrigan is a Professor of Economics at Kenyon College. He earned a BA in Economics from Grinnell College and a PhD in Economics from Iowa State University.
Professor Corrigan’s writing has appeared in The Washington Post and Barron’s. His scholarly publications in economics, public health, and substance abuse journals have been cited more than 1,000 times. His research has been covered by news outlets such as ABC, NBC, and BBC World News, and his work was included in a Washington Post list of the 10 best works on political economy in 2018.
Professor Corrigan is a recipient of Kenyon College’s Trustee Teaching Excellence Award, and The Princeton Review named him one of America’s best college professors.
Trailer
01: Game Theory Basics: The Prisoner’s Dilemma
Begin your study of game theory by considering the difference between a decision and a game. Then look at two key concepts, dominant strategy and the Nash equilibrium—the latter named for mathematician John F. Nash, profiled in the movie A Beautiful Mind. Use these ideas to interpret the notorious prisoner’s dilemma, where two rational individuals with strong incentives to cooperate choose not to.
30 min
02: Repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma Games
Take prisoner’s dilemma to the next level, where the game is played not just once, but repeatedly. Contrast the equilibrium strategy with what real people typically do. Examples include trench warfare during World War I, when the two sides often fell into a live-and-let-live equilibrium, and the price-fixing scheme among many US colleges that set tuition and financial aid grants for three decades.
30 min
03: The Game of Chicken
Learn to analyze strategy in the game of chicken, in which two cars barrel toward each other and the first to veer away is the loser. Versions of chicken play out in nature in the competition among animals for mates, and in the US Congress, where budget battles with the president risk government shutdown if neither side yields. See how chicken differs in crucial ways from the prisoner’s dilemma.
28 min
04: Reaching Consensus: Coordination Games
Turn from games of conflict to those of coordination—for example, when companies must decide between competing standards where it’s in everyone’s best interest to make the same choice. Historically, the triumph of VHS for videorecording over Betamax shows that the superior standard doesn’t always prevail. Discover that all coordination games have more than one Nash equilibrium.
29 min
05: Run or Pass? Games with Mixed Strategies
Whether they realize it or not, football coaches use game theory when choosing offensive and defensive strategies. Obviously, they want to keep the other team guessing, which means being unpredictable in ways that maximize the average gain per play. This approach is called a mixed strategy. See how it also applies for stores scheduling sales to keep consumers guessing—and buying.
29 min
06: Let’s Take Turns: Sequential-Move Games
Now look at sequential-move games, where players take turns. Examples include the strategies involved when Congress passes a bill and the president must decide whether to veto it. Also analyze the ultimatum game, a classic of behavioral economics in which an allocator proposes a division of money and a decider either accepts the split or rejects it so that both sides get nothing.
32 min
07: When Backward Induction Works—and Doesn’t
The strategy of backward induction starts at the last decision in a game and then reasons back to the beginning. Although this is an effective approach, it can produce strange results. Explore several examples, including a game created by Nobel Prize-winner Reinhard Selten. Learn why real players often resist using backward induction for a good reason, whether they realize it or not.
34 min
08: Asymmetric Information in Poker and Life
Many situations in life involve interactions where one party has critical information not available to the other. A classic case is poker, where this asymmetry adds spice to the game. A more stressful example is buying a used car, where the seller’s knowledge of the vehicle’s true condition puts the buyer at a disadvantage. Consider the role of signaling in reducing this asymmetry.
30 min
09: Divide and Conquer: Separating Equilibrium
Ever wonder why coach seats are so cramped? The airlines’ challenge is to make the first-class and coach experiences different enough to lure free-spending passengers to first class without making economy travelers so miserable they won’t fly. See how game theory explains this practice. Then discover that dueling may have evolved to correct the problem of asymmetric information in loaning money.
29 min
10: Going Once, Going Twice: Auctions as Games
Life is full of negotiations that are, in fact, auctions—from buying a house to accepting an airline’s offer of a voucher on an oversold flight. Study four types of auctions, including the second-price auction, in which the winner pays the second-highest bid. This approach encourages participants to offer the true amount they’re willing to pay. Learn strategies for each type of auction.
28 min
11: Hidden Auctions: Common Value and All-Pay
Focus on common-value auctions, where the item for sale has the same value to everyone who’s bidding on it. The problem is, no one knows what that value is. In these cases, it’s easy to overbid and fall victim to the winner’s curse—paying more for an asset than it’s worth. Get tips on how to avoid this pitfall. Also, look at all-pay auctions, where everyone—not just the winner—pays what they bid.
30 min
12: Games with Continuous Strategies
Close by seeing the power of calculus for analyzing games with continuous strategies (no prior experience with calculus needed). Examples include gunboat tactics to combat pirates, and bull elk competition in antler growth with the goal of attracting mates. Not only does game theory explain the way people behave in strategic interactions, but it can also lead to insights about the animal world!
32 min
