Introduction to Game Theory

Course meets in-person.

Game theory is a mathematical tool used to study strategic interactions. Whenever the choices made by two or more distinct decision makers have an effect on the others? outcomes, the interaction between them is game-theoretic in nature. As suggested by its recent emergence into popular culture, game theory has been applied widely, in attempts to address phenomena in a variety of academic disciplines, including political science, economics, and biology. Because much of politics is about allocation of scarce goods, such as power and wealth, and the competition for these goods, much of politics would seem to be a natural fit for the language of game theory.