Syllabus

Logistics

Lectures

Lectures will meet MWF at 2 pm in UAB 129. Your instructor is Shobhana Murali Stoyanov.

Sections

There are no mandatory sections. Thomas will hold homework help sessions.

Your GSI is Thomas Lee.

Office Hours

Office hours and locations: TBA.

Course Materials

Texts

The main text we will follow is Game Theory, Alive by Karlin and Peres, which is available online through the library.

We will refer to other texts including A Course in Game Theory by Thomas Ferguson, and Algorithmic Game Theory by Tim Roughgarden.

Topics

We can think of the course as consisting of two parts. In the first part of the course, we analyze games, and in the second, we investigate mechanism design – or the design of the game itself. Below is a tentative list of topics we hope to cover this semester. The chapter numbers below are from the text by Karlin and Peres:

Part I: Analyzing games

  • Ch. 1: Combinatorial games
  • Ch. 2: Zero-sum games (we may also cover some part of chapter 3)
  • Ch. 4: General-sum games, and 5.1: Proof of Nash’s theorem
  • Ch. 7: Evolutionary game theory and correlated equilibria
  • Ch. 8: The price of anarchy

Part II: Designing games and mechanisms

  • Ch. 10: Stable matching (and kidney exchange)
  • Ch. 12: Cooperative games
  • Ch. 13: Social choice and voting
  • Ch. 14: Auctions

Prerequisites

Undergraduate linear algebra (Math 54 / Math 110 / Phys 89), real analysis and calculus (Math 16A,B or Math 104) and probability (Stat 134).

Assessments

Homework

Homework will be due roughly every week, barring midterm weeks. It will be graded on completion, and submitted homeworks will be worth 5% of your grade. You may request extensions of up to two days for up to two homework assignments, using this page, once assignments have been posted on Gradescope. You must make the request before the due date. If you have DSP accommodations, please send us a private message on Ed.

Homework Oral Review

This semester, I will meet with each of you about 3 times during the semester. You will form groups of 4 members – you can choose your own groups. Each week, I will meet with five groups and you will present one of the homework problems that you have recently turned in. Each of you will be graded out of 5 points, and the group as a whole is graded out of 5 points. For example, say 3 members of the group present the problem well, and are able to explain their solution, but one member is not able to, the group points will be affected. This is easily avoided by discussing the homework. The homework oral review will be worth 15% of your grade.

Exams

There will be two in-class midterms, and a final exam. The dates will be:

  • Midterm 1: October 2
  • Midterm 2: November 6

The final exam will be from 3-6 pm on Thursday, December 17th.

Each midterm is worth 20% and the final exam worth 40% of your grade.

Overall Score

Your letter grade for the course will be based on a weighted average of your assessments, as follows:

  • Homework: 5%
  • Homework Oral Review: 15%
  • Midterm 1: 20%
  • Midterm 2: 20%
  • Final exam: 40%

Academic Honesty Policy

The student community at UC Berkeley has adopted the following Honor Code: “As a member of the UC Berkeley community, I act with honesty, integrity, and respect for others.”.

My expectation is that you will adhere to this code. Beyond the importance of respecting your fellow students, acting with integrity in completing course assignments helps ensure that they achieve their purpose, which is to help you learn. There will be no electronic devices allowed during exams. Homework must be done independently. If you get stuck or want to explore alternative approaches, feel free to discuss the homework with your colleagues or Thomas. You may use GenAI tools to help you understand a concept (but beware, and remember to interrogate it since we all know that genAI can confidently give you plausible but incorrect answers), but putting assignment questions into an AI tool and then copying and pasting/paraphrasing the answers will be considered plagiarism. It also completely negates the purpose of the homework, which is to cement and internalize concepts from the course. It will not serve you for the oral review nor the exams, when you have to tackle the problems on your own. I leave it to you to decide how much you would like to use genAI tools, but please use them with caution.

Email/Ed policy

If you have a question for us, the fastest way to get a response is to post the question on Ed. If it deals with private matters, please make it a private post. If you are not comfortable writing a private post, come and see me. You can drop into office hours or make an appointment, either is fine.

Inclusivity and Accommodation

My hope is to establish a learning environment in this course that welcomes diversity of thought, perspective, and experience, and to be respectful of your individual identity as a student. I am happy to use your preferred name and/or personal pronoun. If you feel uncomfortable as a result of anything that is said in class, or if you feel that your performance in the course is being impacted by experiences outside of class, please do not hesitate to reach out to me about your concerns. If you are uncomfortable being called on during class, just let me know.

In addition, if you need accommodations for any physical, psychological, or learning disability, please speak to me after class or during office hours. Please note that you must make arrangements in a timely manner through DSP so that I can make the appropriate accommodations.

Possibility of revisions to course policies

All course policies, including assessment, are subject to change during the course of the semester in response to unforeseen events including, but not limited to, campus shutdowns due to various reasons, power outages, forest fires, and medical emergencies among members of the course staff.