Applied Game Theory: Modelling Politics and Business (POL121)

The course aims to strengthen skills in game theory by focusing on its applicability to the problems of politics and business. While at the first glance games often seem too abstract or distinct from the actual political and economic processes, they can be grounded in the empirics. Thus, during the course we will focus on some more advanced game theory models and especially  look at how they can help us improve our understanding of politics, economics and business through applications of game theory to specific analysis questions. This will equip students with skills needed to develop and apply game theory models in research and practice.

•  Students will understand advanced game theory concepts and the applicability of the method.
• Students will learn to identify arguments about causality and use game theory models to provide theoretical reasoning for causal relationships.
• Students will learn to identify assumptions behind game theory model development.
• Students will engage in model development, which may require considerations of the trade-off behind ethics and payoff maximization.
• Students will repeatedly present and discuss the progress of their model development activities during the course seminars.
• Students will develop a written paper presenting their game theory model and its implications.