Strategic Behaviour in Business and Economics

Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona

Course Description

  • Course Name

    Strategic Behaviour in Business and Economics

  • Host University

    Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona

  • Location

    Barcelona, Spain

  • Area of Study

    Behavioral Science, Economics, Sociology

  • Language Level

    Taught In English

    Hours & Credits

  • Contact Hours

    45
  • Recommended U.S. Semester Credits
    3
  • Recommended U.S. Quarter Units
    4
  • Overview

    INTRODUCTION

    This course in designed as a brief introduction to individual decision making. Its main objective is to provide the students with decision theory and game theory tools that can be useful not only in business environments but also in everyday life.

    We begin with an experiment including several basic decision problems and games. The second and the third part of the course are the core of the subject where the student actually learns how to solve and analyse decision problems and games. Once the basic theory is learned, we proceed to some critiques and alternative approaches.

     

    REQUIREMENTS
         - Basic Knowledge of Micro Economics and Mathematics

     

    CONTENTS

    1. Introduction
         1.1 Problems we solve every day: What are we going to do?
         1.2 The experiment (Note: Not an exam)

    2. Individual decision making
         2.1 Basic concepts: Values, preferences, and utility
         2.2 Choice under uncertainty: Lotteries and risk aversion
         2.3 Value of information: Decision trees and backward induction

    3. Game Theory
         3.1. What is a Game?
              3.1.1 The elements of a Game
              3.1.2 The Rules of the Game: Example
              3.1.3 Examples of Game Situations
              3.1.3 Types of Games
         3.2 Solution Concepts
              3.2.1 Static Games of complete information: Dominant Strategies, Dominated Strategies, and Nash Equilibrium in pure and mixed Strategies
              3.2.2 Dynamic Games of complete information: Nash Equilibrium, Backward Induction and Subgame Perfection

    4. The Theories and the Real World
         4.1 Applications: Auctions and Negotiation
         4.2 What the theory does not reflect? (Back to The experiment)

    5. Alternative approaches
         5.1 Psychology
         5.2 Evolution
         5.3 Artificial intelligence

Course Disclaimer

Credits earned vary according to the policies of the students' home institutions. According to ISA policy and possible visa requirements, students must maintain full-time enrollment status, as determined by their home institutions, for the duration of the program.

ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) credits are converted to semester credits/quarter units differently among U.S. universities. Students should confirm the conversion scale used at their home university when determining credit transfer.

Please reference fall and spring course lists as not all courses are taught during both semesters.

Availability of courses is based on enrollment numbers. All students should seek pre-approval for alternate courses in the event of last minute class cancellations

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