Understanding Economics

Game Theory

By: Jay R. Corrigan, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Jay R. Corrigan

Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Game theory is the study of strategic decision-making in politics, sports, diplomacy, and a host of other areas, but especially in economics, where game theory flourishes. Understanding Economics: Game Theory introduces you to this fascinating field, which combines the fun and challenge of games with the logic of brain teasers. In 12 engaging half-hour lessons, Professor Jay R. Corrigan of Kenyon College analyzes such classic games as the prisoner’s dilemma and the hawk-dove game. While these particular games involve lawbreakers and animal rivalries, they have applications to many situations.

Each lesson is devoted to a handful of examples, which you investigate in detail, working out the possible strategies for the different competitors and their expected payoffs. Along the way, you discover why it’s hard to buy a good used car, why people confess to crimes they didn’t commit, why athletes ignore the risks and use performance-enhancing drugs, and how to bid in different kinds of auctions to increase your payoff—and also why you might regret winning one special type of auction.

Professor Corrigan covers fundamental concepts, such as dominant strategy and Nash equilibrium, the latter named for the reclusive genius who was profiled in the movie A Beautiful Mind. He teaches you how to diagram a game with a payoff matrix, which is a table that shows every player’s payoff based on the chosen strategies. You also practice backward induction, where you start at the game’s last round and work your way back to the beginning to determine your best opening move. These are all powerful tools for seeing the game from opposing points of view and uncovering an optimum strategy. After taking this course, you’ll know what to do the next time you bargain for a used car or get caught in the frenzy of an auction.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 The Great Courses (P)2021 The Teaching Company, LLC

excellent contennt and presenter

game theory is a very fascinaring subject. it can explain a lot tha goes on on this crazy plannet. and it takes a little of the crazy away.
highly reccomenfed

Truly fascinating

This professor is not only excited about the subject, but also excellent at explaining it. The intended audience is simply an educated layman with an interest in the subject. Only a knowledge of high school algebra is required to follow the details.

I really enjoyed his explanation of Nash equilibriae, which I had struggled to understand in the past. I will definitely be seeking out other course offerings by him.

This was an audible plus title, but I would have cheerfully paid cash for it.

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it's good. the math is hard to follow just listening to it at times.

Game tbeory

I consider this very Loosely connected to economics. Save your time read something else, the word "economics" is mentioned frequently but I think the tie-in is very loose.

Refer to the PDF

This audiobook comes with a PDF, which you need to refer to in order to understand the probability. This book covers different scenarios of game theory. The most famous is the prisoner's dilemma, but there are so many more situations where people are deciding what to do based on what someone else is going to do (e.g., how much to bid in an auction and how much to offer for a used car).

Should be learned by all

If you have heard people talk about game theory but didn’t understand what it meant this is the place to start

Excellent introduction to game theory

if you're driving or otherwise not reading the accompanying PDF, the examples/scenarios can be confusing, but you're still able to understand the big picture. love the topic and the lecturer was good!

A Great Intro to Game Theory

Game Theory is something I hear about a lot, but don’t really understand. This set of Great Courses lectures was a great introduction to the topic. The first lectures take you through different game scenarios and teach you about human behavior when humans understand the consequences of their choices. The easiest was the classic “prisoners’ dilemma” in which the police catch two alleged criminals, take them into separate rooms, and interrogate them. If neither talks, they both go free. But if one talks and the other doesn’t, the talker gets a light prison sentence and the one who stayed quiet goes away for a long time. Corrigan shows why it is always in the prisoner’s interest to make the deal and “confess” (even if he or she is innocent).

These sorts of thought problems are fascinating and as they get more and more complex, Corrigan begins to apply them to the real world showing how to use game theory to make decisions. It gets very complicated very fast. If there is one weakness in what he described, it would seem to be that all sides have to know what is best for them or their actions will not be correctly anticipated, but the theory probably provides for that as well.

very nice

perfect introduction to game theory. very well explained qith everyday examples. read the pdf along

The best entry point I've seen for game theory

As a law prof, I admire the work it takes to make something like this palatable and digestible for actual people. This is a gem.