COURSE INFORMATION
Course Title: GAME THEORY
Code Course Type Regular Semester Theory Practice Lab Credits ECTS
ECO 334 B 6 3 0 0 3 6
Academic staff member responsible for the design of the course syllabus (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) NA
Main Course Lecturer (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours: Dr. Dritan Osmani dosmani@epoka.edu.al , Monday-Friday 8:30- 17:30
Second Course Lecturer(s) (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours: NA
Teaching Assistant(s) and Office Hours: NA
Language: English
Compulsory/Elective: Elective
Study program: (the study for which this course is offered) Bachelor in Banking and Finance (3 years)
Classroom and Meeting Time: D 202
Code of Ethics: Code of Ethics of EPOKA University
Regulation of EPOKA University "On Student Discipline"
Attendance Requirement: 60%
Course Description: This course studies the competitive and collaborative behavior that results when several groups of opposite interests have to work together. During this course, students will learn how to use game theory in studying situations of a potential conflict: situations where the final result does not depends on your decision and destiny but also on the actions of others. Applications are drawn from economics, business, and political science. There will be no "cutback" answers to these problems (unlike the majority of a person's decisions). Our analysis can only suggest issues that are important and provide guidance for appropriate behavior in certain situations. On the one hand, competitive analysis is delicate, vague, and often counter-intuitive; but on the other hand, it's interesting, challenging, and a good deal. This course will help students expand their exposure and improve understanding of competitive situations.
Course Objectives:
BASIC CONCEPTS OF THE COURSE
1 Game Analysis and Strategy
2 Combinatorial Games
3 Zero-Sum games
4 General Sum Games Nash Equilibria
5 Correlated Equilibria
6 Price of Anarchy
7 Cooperative games
8 Voting
9 Auctions
10 Fair devision
COURSE OUTLINE
Week Topics
1 Game Analysis and Strategy --- Chapter 2 : In game theory, a player's strategy is any of the options which they choose in a setting where the outcome depends not only on their own actions but on the actions of others. The discipline mainly concerns the action of a player in a game affecting the behavior or actions of other players. Page (11-20)
2 Combinatorial Games ---Chapter 2 (continue) : Combinatorial games include well-known games such as chess, checkers, and Go, which are regarded as non-trivial, and tic-tac-toe, which is considered as trivial, in the sense of being "easy to solve". Some combinatorial games may also have an unbounded playing area, such as infinite chess. Page (21-51)
3 Zero-Sum games --- Chapter 3 : Zero-sum is a situation in game theory in which one person's gain is equivalent to another's loss, so the net change in wealth or benefit is zero. A zero-sum game may have as few as two players or as many as millions of participants. Page (53-61)
4 General Sum Games Nash Equilibria --- Chapter 3 (continue) : Nash equilibrium in game theory is a situation in which a player will continue with their chosen strategy, having no incentive to deviate from it, after taking into consideration the opponent's strategy. Page (62-94)
5 Correlated Equilibria --- Chapter 4 : In game theory, a correlated equilibrium is a solution concept that is more general than the well known Nash equilibrium. Page (97-130)
6 Price of Anarchy --- Chapter 6 : The Price of Anarchy is a concept in economics and game theory that measures how the efficiency of a system degrades due to selfish behavior of its agents. Page (131-148)
7 MIDTERM
8 Cooperative games --- Chapter 5 : In game theory, a cooperative game is a game with competition between groups of players due to the possibility of external enforcement of cooperative behavior. Page (151-177)
9 Voting --- Chapter 6 : In an election, a group of people decide some issue by counting votes. Elections lend themselves to the scientific metaphor of game theory: like games, elections have known rules, and there is usually a definite winner and loser or losers. Page (179-200)
10 Auctions --- Chapter 7 : A game-theoretic auction model is a mathematical game represented by a set of players, a set of actions (strategies) available to each player, and a payoff vector corresponding to each combination of strategies. Generally, the players are the buyer(s) and the seller(s). Page (201-232)
11 Fair division --- Chapter 8 : Fair division is the problem in game theory of dividing a set of resources among several people who have an entitlement to them so that each person receives their due share. Page (235-266)
12 Climate Games --- Chapter 9 : Game Theory and Climate Change develops a conceptual framework with which to analyze climate change as a strategic or dynamic game, bringing together cooperative and noncooperative game theory and providing practical analyses of international negotiations. Page (271-309)
13 Adaptive Decision Making --- Chapter 11 : The concept of adaptive decision is making is best understood as the mental process of effectively reacting to a change in a situation. In the simplest terms, it refers to problem-solving. Page (335-348)
14 Final exam
Prerequisite(s): No Prerequisites.
Textbook(s): Game Theory (2020). Michael Maschler, Eilon Solan, Shmuel Zamir.
Additional Literature: Game Theory (Links to an external site.). Thomas S. Ferguson. Essentials of Game Theory (Links to an external site.). Kevin Leyton-Brown and Yoav Shoham. gametheory.net
Laboratory Work: NA
Computer Usage: NA
Others: No
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
1 To distinguish a game situation from a pure individual's decision problem
2 To explain concepts of players, strategies, payoffs, rationality, equilibrium
3 To describe sequential games using game trees, and to use the backward induction to solve such games
COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO... PROGRAM COMPETENCIES
(Blank : no contribution, 1: least contribution ... 5: highest contribution)
No Program Competencies Cont.
Bachelor in Banking and Finance (3 years) Program
1 The students gain the ability to look at the problems of daily life from a broader perspective with an increased awareness of the importance of moral/ethical considerations and professional integrity in the workplace. 3
2 They develop their knowledge and understanding of banking and finance including concepts, theories, and analytical tools that serve both in national and international markets. 3
3 They gain an understanding of the role of financial management in business firms and the essentials of corporate finance and further develop their knowledge in the field. 2
4 They are able to apply valuation models to estimate the price of different financial assets, measure risk and describe the risk-return tradeoff. 4
5 They are provided with the knowledge and understanding of the regulatory framework and functioning of banking system and central banking as well as international banking system. 2
6 They are able to understand and use fundamental economic theories and tools to solve economic problems in banking and financial services industry. 3
7 They have the ability to develop and utilize accounting, financial and economic data as well as other information to solve different business problems by making use of basic mathematical and statistical models. 5
8 They are expected to develop their numerical and IT skills as well as knowledge of databases in order to address the significant development in the delivery and use of financial services known as FinTech. 3
9 They develop their ability to think critically, do research, analyze, interpret, draw independent conclusions, and communicate effectively, both individually and as part of a team. 5
10 They are provided with opportunities to acquire the necessary skills and competencies to develop professionalism in the banking and financial services industry or to move on to further study within the discipline. 3
COURSE EVALUATION METHOD
Method Quantity Percentage
Homework
10
2
Midterm Exam(s)
1
30
Final Exam
1
40
Attendance
10
Total Percent: 100%
ECTS (ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD)
Activities Quantity Duration(Hours) Total Workload(Hours)
Course Duration (Including the exam week: 16x Total course hours) 16 3 48
Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice) 16 2 32
Mid-terms 1 20 20
Assignments 0
Final examination 1 30 30
Other 1 20 20
Total Work Load:
150
Total Work Load/25(h):
6
ECTS Credit of the Course:
6
CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE COURSE LECTURER

No Remarks.