Econ 521b: Advanced Economic Theory: Topics (2008)

Spring 2008
9:00-10:20 T/TH, 28 Hillhouse, Room 106

Part 1:  Information Economics and Repeated Games
Dino Gerardi
30 Hillhouse Avenue, #22A
432-6519
Email
Office hours 3:00-5:00  F

Part 2:  Information, Types and Dynamic Mechanism Design
Dirk Bergemann
30 Hillhouse Avenue, #24
432-3592
Email
Office hours 2:00-4:00 T

Topic: This course covers selected topics in the economics of information and uncertainty. The first part of the course will cover the theory of mechanism design and some of its applications. The second part of the course will cover some recent papers in communication, learning and networks.

Course Requirements: This course has five basic requirements. They are: (i) reading the assigned papers before the presentation in class, (ii) solving the problem sets, (iii) presenting one research paper, (iv) writing six referee reports (before the presentation of the papers) and (v) writing a term paper. The assignments will be given biweekly. Class participation, assignments, and the term paper will jointly determine the final grade.

Readings: The current reading list will be completed as the class proceeds.

Outline — Part I

  1. Mechanism Design
    1. Implementation via dominant strategies and Bayesian Nash equilibrium
    2. The revelation principle
    3. Implementation of efficient outcomes
  2. Auction Theory
    1. First and second price auctions
    2. Design of optimal auctions
  3. Bilateral Trading
    1. Two person double auctions
    2. Efficient mechanisms for bilateral trading
  4. Implementation Theory: Unique implementation in Nash and subgame perfect equilibria
  5. Moral Hazard: The principal-agent model with moral hazard
  6. Games with Communication: Correlated and communication equilibria
  7. Repeated Games with Perfect and Imperfect Public Monitoring
    1. The one-shot deviation principle
    2. Decomposability and self-generation
    3. Folk theorems.
  8. Repeated Games with Private Monitoring (Johannes Hörner — 2 lectures)

Outline — Part II

The following lecture notes cover the material presented in the lectures.

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