Seminar: Game Theory in Economics (5 credits, exchange students only)

Here you find all important information and course material.

Description: This seminar discusses the application of game theory in various fields of economics. Students will learn about adverse selection, signalling, patterns of international trade, bank runs, etc.

Note that we (at the chair of microeconomics) offer two related courses. Apart from this one, you might consider attending Seminar: Decision Theory, Noncooperative and Cooperative Game Theory offered by Harald Wiese.

Format: Two introductory lectures. Then, each week, one scientific paper is discussed by all seminar participants. Each student is required to...

  1. read in advance the scientific paper to be discussed in class,
  2. participate regularly and actively in each meeting,
  3. achieve more than 50% on weekly assignments.

Regular participation means that students miss no more than 3 meetings. Active participation means that students are ready to present the solutions to the weekly assignments and to present the main aspects of the scientific paper. Students who meet the above requirements will be allowed to participate in the final exam (written or oral).

Registration: Please write an email to Alexander Singer until Tuesday April 08th. The number of participants is restricted to 12.

Contact: If you have any questions, please contact Alexander Singer.

First meeting SoSe 2025: 08.04.2025, 11:15-12:45 in SR 17

Exam SoSe 2025: 08.07.2025. 5 ECTS will be awarded for passing the exam.

Scientific Papers:

  • T1 - The Problem of Social Cost (externalities and contracting)
  • T2 - The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism (asymmetric information)
  • T3 - On the Impossibility of Informationally Efficient Markets (information acquisition)
  • T4 - Job Market Signaling (signaling)
  • T5 - A Simple Model of Herd Behavior (Bayesian games)
  • T6 - Agreeing to Disagree (common knowledge)
  • T7 - Bank Runs, Deposit Insurance, and Liquidity (multiple equilibria)
  • T8 - Moral Hazard and Observability (hidden action)
  • T9 - Counterspeculation, Auctions, and Competitive Sealed Tenders (private-value auctions)
  • T10 - A Theory of Auctions and Competitive Bidding (common-value auctions)