CS 491/CS591 Fall 2010
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Last updated: November 26, 2010
Course Description: Game theory is the formal study of strategic reasoning. Game theoretic concepts apply whenever the actions of several agents are interdependent. An agent may be an individual, a group, a firm, or any combination of these. The first third of this course is an introduction to game theory and strategic thinking including dominance, Nash equilibrium, and stability. In the second third, we will examine how game theoretic concepts can be used in developing reasoning strategies, i.e., algorithms. Algorithmic topics covered will include extensive games, regret minimization, negotiation, auctions, voting, social choice, resource allocation, fictitious play, and mechanism design. For class project, students are expected to select appropriate problems from any discipline that can benefit from a computational solution. In the remainder of class we will discuss project solutions and nuances including complexity and optimization, i.e., in the wild.
Objective:
Lectures in this calss will not cover internet programming, setting up ecommerce sites, or developing web pages. The term projects could include these activities. The lectures will focus on enabling concepts, models and theories.
Course administration and grading. The course will be run as a regular lectrure class with two tests, five home work, and a project (home works 2-5).
Project (40%): Each student is responsible to develop a game theoretic formulation for a problem they bring to class. The problem must be small, yet rich enough enough to fit the rubric of a semester timeline. Periodically, there will be in-class status update periods designed to help brain storm the problem. In some cases, the problem might be same topic as the student's graduate product or another class. Project is guided by four assignments (i.e.,, HWs 2-5). For possible ideas see CS539 project listing prefixed with "GT" (not duplicated here for brevity).
Planned Schedule:
Weeks | Dates | Events scheduled |
Online Lectures: "L" series is Hexmoor Lecture series |
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1 | August 23, 2010 | HW2 (proposal) is assigned |
Preliminaries: Glossary (9-14-10), Nobel Laureates, |
2 | August 30, 2010 | HW 1 is assigned |
Utility + Hawk-Dove (L2), Fishburn's Utility Theory |
3 | September 6, 2010 | Proposals are due |
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4 | September 13, 2010 | Proposals due 9-16-10
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5 | September 20, 2010 | HW1 is due 9-21-10
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Coalitions(L8) |
6 | September 27, 2010 | Extensive, Repeated Games (L9), |
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7 | October 4, 2010 | Test 1 on October 7, 2010 |
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7 | October 11, 2010 | Stochastic Games (Shapley paper, L11), Social Choice (L12) | |
8 | October 18, 2010 | Interim reports (Bgnd/Related work plus ppt Slides to be emailed) On October 22 Test 2 assigned on October 21, 2010 |
Mechanism Design (L13), Maskin paper
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9 | October 25, 2020 | October 26 (Dr A. Watts Lecture) Test 2(Weeklong, Take home to be emailed) |
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10 | November 1, 2010 | Collective action and Externality (L14) |
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11 | November 8, 2010 | November 11- No class |
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12 | November 8, 2010 | TBD | |
13 | November 15, 2010 | TBD |
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14 | November 22, 2010 | Thanksgiving break (no classes) |
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15 | November 29, 2010 | Project presentations (Faner 2127) |
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16 | December 6, 2010 | Project presentations (Faner 2127) |
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17 | December 13, 2010 | Final Project Reports are due |
Who should attend and prerequisites. We welcome advanced CS graduate students with some background in AI and mathematical maturity. Senior undergraduate CS students who have taken CS330 with a grade of C or better are also welcome. A term project is an integral part of this course for all srtudents.
Required Textbooks:
1. Robert Gibbons, 1992. Game Theory for Applied Economists, Princeton University Press.
2. Noam Nisan, et. al., 2007. Algorithmic Game Theory, Cambridge University Press.
Recommended Sources:
(Seminal and Inspirational) 1. J. VonNeumann, O. Morgenstern, 1944/1953. Games and Economic Behavior (online), Princeton University Press. Size warning: 32MB.
(Classic works) 2. Martin Osborne, 1994. An Introduction to Game Theory, MIT Press.
(Broad Coverage) 3.David Easley and Jon Klienberg, 2010. Networks, Crowds, and Markets, Cambridge University Press.
(Highly Inspirational) 4. Matthew O. Jackson, 2008. Social and Economic Networks, Princeton University Press.
B. vonStengel, 2008. Game Theory Basics, London School of Economics.
Recommended Books:
1. N. Barron, 2008. Game Theory: An introduction, Wiley.
2. K. Binmore, 2007. Playing for Real, Oxford University Press.
3. J.M. Smith, Evolution and the Theory of Games, Cambridge University Press.
4. Dixit, Skeath, Reiley, Games of Strategy, Norton.
5. P.J. Dutta, 1999. Strategies and Games, MIT Press.
Emergency Procedures: Southern Illinois University Carbondale is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for study and work. Because some health and safety circumstances are beyond our control, we ask that you become familiar with the SIUC Emergency Response Plan and Building Emergency Response Team (BERT) program. Emergency response information is available on posters in buildings on campus, available on BERT's website at www.bert.siu.edu, Department of Safety's website www.dps.siu.edu (disaster drop down) and in Emergency Response Guideline pamphlet. Know how to respond to each type of emergency.
Useful Links: To find research papers, citeseer and Multiagent.com