Game Theory for Public Affairs

MIA and MPA Policy Skills Core II. Public policy, political systems, and organizations inevitably involve complex interactions between competing interests. For practitioners, it is crucial to understand how actions are met with responses, and predicting those responses is critical to designing successful strategies. Game theory is the formal mathematical toolkit for studying strategic interaction across the social sciences. This course provides a general introduction to the theory of games. Students will acquire a theoretical language for understanding games, as well as the ability to set up and solve game theoretic problems.

The half-semester will cover many of the core topics in game theory, including rational choice, simultaneous-move games, dynamic games, bargaining, and incomplete information (signaling). While the focus is on understanding fundamentals, each session will examine applications relevant to politics and management.