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Final course grades have been posted. The following curve was applied to the grades: instead of dividing by 1000 points, grades were divided by 965 points. See Course Documents below. |
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For the exam, you should be able to apply decision-rules (maximax, minimax regret, maximin, poliheuristic), understand the conditions of utility functions and the prospect theory, solve games (using maximin, iterated dominance, Nash equilibria in both pure and mixed strategies, and subgame perfection), show that voting rules violate one or more of Arrow's assumptions, identify Cordorcet winners and Condorcet triplets, prove that a voting rule fits one of the Gibbard–Satterthwaite conditions, explain the impossibility of a Paretial liberal under Sen's theorem, create an example of Anscombe's paradox, apply the logic of collective action to determine whether individual action is rational under given circumstances, distinguish between analyses of group behavior relying on rational unitary actor, organizational process, bureaucratic/government politics, and groupthink explanations, find the median voter and weighted median voter in one or two dimensions and use the result to predict policy, illustrate the "chaos theorem" of voting in two dimensions, identify a structure-induced equilibrium, understand the Pareto-optimal set of bargaining outcomes, and be able to incorporate a valence issue into a spatial model of politics. |
| Course Documents |
Syllabus for POLS 486
(undergraduates) Syllabus for POLS 586 (graduate students) Glossary of Mathematical Symbols and Terms Homework Questions from throughout the course Course Grades -- Sorted by the last 3 digits of your UIN (the number with all the zeroes) |
Class Notes |
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Dates |
Topic |
Assigned Readings to be Completed Before Class |
Paper
Milestones |
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Aug 30 |
Symbols, Proofs, Models, and Theories |
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Sept 7 |
Decision Theory: Choice Under Uncertainty |
Hansson, ALL (Blackboard)
Rawls, Sections 3, 4, 11, and 26 (Blackboard) |
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Sept 14 |
Evaluating Expected Utility Theory |
Morrow, Chapter 2 (Blackboard)
Davis, Chapter 4 (Blackboard)
Neack, Chapter 3 (Blackboard) |
Be prepared to discuss your progress |
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Sept 21 |
Game Theory I: Minimax and Nash |
Hargreaves-Heap and Varoufakis, Chapters 1-2
Enders and Sandler, Chapter 4 (Blackboard) |
Be prepared to discuss your progress |
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Sept 28 |
Game Theory II: Equilibrium Concepts |
Mérö, Chapter 6 (Blackboard)
Hargreaves-Heap and Varoufakis, Chapter 3
Enders and Sandler, Chapter 7 (Blackboard) |
Be prepared to discuss your progress |
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Oct 5 |
Game Theory III: Bargaining |
Hargreaves-Heap and Varoufakis, Chapter 4
Meyerson, Chapter 2 (Blackboard)
Bazerman and Neale, Part One (Blackboard) |
Be prepared to discuss your progress |
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Oct 12 |
Game Theory IV: The Prisoner’s Dilemma, Stag
Hunt, and Values |
Hargreaves-Heap and Varoufakis, Chapter 5
Mérö, Chapter 4 (Blackboard)
Skyrms, Chapters 1-3 (Blackboard) |
Puzzle and Literature Review |
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Oct 19 |
Game Theory V: Nonrational Components |
Hargreaves-Heap and Varoufakis, Chapters 6-7 |
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Oct 26 |
Paradoxes of Social Choice I |
Saari, Chapter 1 (Blackboard)
Arrow, ALL |
Be prepared to discuss your progress |
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Nov 2 |
Paradoxes of Social Choice II |
Aldrich (Blackboard)
Saari, Chapter 2 (Blackboard) |
Revisions and Model Selection |
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Nov 9 |
Collective Action |
Olson, Chapters 1-2 (Blackboard)
Barry, Chapter 2 (Blackboard) |
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Nov 16 |
Group Decisions |
Neack, Chapter 4 (Blackboard)
Allison (Blackboard) |
Be prepared to discuss your progress |
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Nov 23 |
Spatial Models in One Dimension: Voting and
Bargaining |
Black (Blackboard)
Barry, Chapter 5 (Blackboard)
Bueno de Mesquita and Organksi (Blackboard)
Bueno de Mesquita, A Decision-Making Model
(Blackboard) |
Revisions and Model Solution |
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Nov 30 |
Spatial Models in Two Dimensions: Bargaining and
Voting |
Morgan, Chapter 2 (Blackboard)
McKelvey (Blackboard)
Riker (Blackboard)
Krehbiel (Blackboard) |
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Dec 7 |
Forecasting Politics with Spatial Models |
Bueno de Mesquita, A New Model for Predicting
Policy Choices (Blackboard) |
Final Paper |
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Dec 14 |
Final Exam |
Review All |
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