Cédric Dupont is Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, where he teaches courses in international political economy, regional integration as well as applied game theory for political scientists. Previously, he has taught at the University of Geneva and at the University of California at Berkeley. In his work, Dr. Dupont has used game theoretic tools to study processes of international negotiations, the problem of the provision of public and club goods, the political economy of international economic institutions as well as foreign policy decision-making.
The main aim of the course is to provide students with basic game theoretic tools that they can readily apply in their own research. The focus will therefore not so much be on giving the tools as on helping students develop research designs amenable to the use of game theory. When modeling social interactions with game theoretic tools, students should always remain aware of conceptual issues behind the modeling exercise. Rushing to the most sophisticated techniques is often not the most appropriate choice, due to the lack of empirical robustness of the resulting models. In addition to providing an introduction to game theory, the course will cover some intermediary topics in game theory (such as Bayesian games) but will not deal with more advanced topics (such as equilibrium refinements, mechanism design, stochastic games, or evolutionary game theory).
The course will begin with an analysis of basic elements of a game. It will then cover the most simple game structures, static games under perfect information followed by static games under complete information. Repeated games as well as games with incomplete information (in particular signaling games) will then be addressed. Presentation of the various tools will draw upon empirical examples from various fields in the social sciences. The choice of specific examples will be tailored to the background of participants and to their research interests. The instructor is most familiar with examples from political science but has also extensive knowledge of applications in the field of economics, business, and socio-psychology.
As an introduction to conceptual issues in applying game theory, two short articles from the field of political science and a book by a major economist:
Two textbooks that will be used for the course:
There are no prerequisites for this course but we expect students to have had some exposure to basic algebra (derivatives). Given the focus on applied game theory, students should have a research topic in mind before coming to the summer school. The idea is to help them use game theory to structure their research and help develop rigorous theoretical propositions.