Game Theory Lectures May 2026

You learn to solve this via Backward Induction . You start at the end of the game and rewind. Suddenly, you realize the Monopolist is bluffing. A price war hurts them more than you. Therefore, the Entrant should always enter.

But then the professor introduces the . It proves that rational players will betray each other immediately , even though waiting would make them both millionaires. Game Theory Lectures

But they also gave me a superpower. I now see the invisible architecture of conflict and cooperation everywhere. I understand why voting feels pointless (Median Voter Theorem). I understand why you tip at a diner you'll never visit again (Subgame Perfect Equilibrium). You learn to solve this via Backward Induction

And that is worth sitting through a few messy matrices. A price war hurts them more than you

You learn about and the "Grim Trigger" strategy. The math shows that if you are going to interact with someone forever (your neighbor, your boss, your spouse), cooperation is actually the rational choice.