Popularized by movies such as "A Beautiful Mind," game theory is the mathematical modeling of strategic interaction among rational (and irrational) agents. Beyond what we call `games' in common language, such as chess, poker, soccer, etc., it includes the modeling of conflict among nations, political campaigns, competition among firms, and trading behavior in markets such as the NYSE. How could you begin to model keyword auctions, and peer to peer file-sharing networks, without accounting for the incentives of the people using them? The course will provide the basics: representing games and strategies, the extensive form (which computer scientists call game trees), Bayesian games (modeling things like auctions), repeated and stochastic games, and more. We'll include a variety of examples including classic games and a few applications.
You can find a full syllabus and description of the course here: http://web.stanford.edu/~jacksonm/GTOC-Syllabus.html
There is also an advanced follow-up course to this one, for people already familiar with game theory: https://www.coursera.org/learn/gametheory2/
You can find an introductory video here: http://web.stanford.edu/~jacksonm/Intro_Networks.mp4
Game Theory
Offered By
Stanford University
The University of British Columbia
Game Theory
Stanford University
About this Course
4.6
1,833 ratings
Skills you will gain
Game TheoryBackward InductionBayesian GameProblem Solving
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week
1Week 1: Introduction and Overview
Introduction, overview, uses of game theory, some applications and examples, and formal definitions of: the normal form, payoffs, strategies, pure strategy Nash equilibrium, dominant strategies
11 videos (Total 80 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes
11 videos
1-1 Game Theory Intro - TCP Backoff 11m
1-2 Self-Interested Agents and Utility Theory 3m
1-3 Defining Games 10m
1-4 Examples of Games 5m
1-5 Nash Equilibrium Intro 4m
1-6 Strategic Reasoning 10m
1-7 Best Response and Nash Equilibrium 2m
1-8 Nash Equilibrium of Example Games 6m
1-9 Dominant Strategies 7m
1-10 Pareto Optimality 8m
2 readings
Syllabus10m
A Brief Introduction to the Basics of Game Theory10m
2 practice exercises
Problem Set 118m
In-Video Quizzes Week 114m
Week
2Week 2: Mixed-Strategy Nash Equilibrium
pure and mixed strategy Nash equilibria
7 videos (Total 76 min), 2 quizzes
7 videos
2-2 Mixed Strategies and Nash Equilibrium (II)14m
2-3 Computing Mixed Nash Equilibrium 11m
2-4 Hardness Beyond 2x2 Games - Basic 5m
2-4 Hardness Beyond 2x2 Games - Advanced 20m
2-5 Example: Mixed Strategy Nash 10m
2-6 Data: Professional Sports and Mixed Strategies 10m
2 practice exercises
Problem Set 210m
In-Video Quizzes Week 26m
Week
3Week 3: Alternate Solution Concepts
Iterative removal of strictly dominated strategies, minimax strategies and the minimax theorem for zero-sum game, correlated equilibria
6 videos (Total 64 min), 2 quizzes
6 videos
3-2 Strictly Dominated Strategies & Iterative Removal 19m
3-3 Dominated Strategies & Iterative Removal: An Application 9m
3-4 Maxmin Strategies 9m
3-4 Maxmin Strategies - Advanced16m
3-5 Correlated Equilibrium: Intuition 5m
2 practice exercises
Problem Set 310m
In-Video Quizzes Week 34m
Week
4Week 4: Extensive-Form Games
Perfect information games: trees, players assigned to nodes, payoffs, backward Induction, subgame perfect equilibrium, introduction to imperfect-information games, mixed versus behavioral strategies.
10 videos (Total 101 min), 2 quizzes
10 videos
4-2 Formalizing Perfect Information Extensive Form Games 6m
4-3 Perfect Information Extensive Form: Strategies, BR, NE 13m
4-4 Subgame Perfection 9m
4-5 Backward Induction 13m
4-6 Subgame Perfect Application: Ultimatum Bargaining17m
4-7 Imperfect Information Extensive Form: Poker 3m
4-8 Imperfect Information Extensive Form: Definition, Strategies 10m
4-9 Mixed and Behavioral Strategies 8m
4-10 Incomplete Information in the Extensive Form: Beyond Subgame Perfection 13m
2 practice exercises
Problem Set 412m
In-Video Quizzes Week 410m
4.6
370 Reviews67%
83%
Top Reviews
By WY•May 17th 2017
Great ! Interesting and abound at the same time. Hope Professors will clarify the strategic utility function more clearly because it's hard for students with poor math basic(forget most><) right now!
By LY•Dec 30th 2017
Easily the most challenging introductory course I've taken, but definitely worth it. I must say though that I learnt more from failing the quizzes than the lectures or practice questions.
Instructors
Matthew O. Jackson
ProfessorEconomics
Kevin Leyton-Brown
ProfessorComputer Science
Yoav Shoham
ProfessorComputer Science
About Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is an American private research university located in Stanford, California on an 8,180-acre (3,310 ha) campus near Palo Alto, California, United States.
About The University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a global centre for research and teaching.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Once you enroll for a Certificate, you’ll have access to all videos, quizzes, and programming assignments (if applicable). Peer review assignments can only be submitted and reviewed once your session has begun. If you choose to explore the course without purchasing, you may not be able to access certain assignments.
What will I get if I purchase the Certificate?
When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
What is the refund policy?
Is financial aid available?
More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.
Coursera provides universal access to the world’s best education,
partnering with top universities and organizations to offer courses online.
© 2018 Coursera Inc. All rights reserved.
