Game Theory: Strategic Decision Making and Rational Choice

Game theory provides the essential tools to analyze situations where your success depends directly on the choices and actions of others. This course teaches you how to think strategically and model complex interactions mathematically. By the end of this program, you will be able to model strategic interactions, identify optimal strategies for all players, and predict logical outcomes in various competitive and cooperative settings. What you'll learn: * Understand the core components of games, including players, payoffs, actions, and strategy profiles. * Learn to model strategic interactions using both normal form (matrix) and extensive form (tree) representations. * Master the concept of the Nash Equilibrium and identify dominant and dominated strategies in simultaneous games. * Apply backward induction to solve sequential games and evaluate the credibility of threats and promises. * Analyze classic strategic dilemmas such as the Prisoner's Dilemma, the Battle of the Sexes, and coordination games. * Practice applying game theory models to real-world scenarios in business competition, negotiation, and policy-making. * Explore basic concepts in behavioral game theory to understand how real-world decisions sometimes deviate from pure rationality. This course is delivered through written explanations and practical examples, starting with foundational terminology and notation before progressing to advanced solution concepts and applications. This course is ideal for absolute beginners in economics, business, or mathematics who are curious about strategic decision-making. No prior experience in game theory or advanced mathematics is required. Start reading today to sharpen your strategic thinking skills.