Game Theory Economics Help

Can someone help me understand my assignment?

Write a briefing document aimed at a general audience, that identifies and
discusses strategic aspects of the topic specified below.

Topic: Neighbours and Communities
Our neighbours, and members of our local community, affect our lives in a variety of
ways. How is this interaction strategic, and what are the implications for cooperation
or conflict between neighbours and within communities?
In the course of addressing this broad question, you may wish to discuss some of the
following more specific issues: public spaces and local amenities, pollution, voluntary
associations, school quality, public safety and criminal deterrence, urban versus rural
communities, immigration, labour mobility, gentrification and neighbourhood decline,
leasehold arrangements, and the renter versus owner-occupier distinction. (Attempting
to discuss all of these issues is not recommended.)

Provide an original analysis of a strategic situation (1500 words), targeted at an audience
that has already studied elementary game theory.

The situation you examine may come from history, current affairs, your own personal
experience, or some other source; but it is important that your subject matter be original.
The situation can be hypothetical, but realism is valued and any invented scenario should
be compelling.

First, describe the relevant features of the situation and translate them into the form
of a game. In particular, think about the following questions:

• Who are the players in your game? Is there a role for “Nature”?
• What actions are available to the players, and in what sequence are these actions
taken? What information do the players have when they make their choices?
• What are the possible outcomes of the situation, and how do the players rank them?
If relevant, what are the players’ risk preferences over the outcomes?

You may need to simplify the interaction or impose assumptions in order to arrive at a
tractable model, but you should try to preserve the strategic essence of the situation.

Next, use any applicable game-theoretic tools to analyse your model, to uncover the
strategic dynamics of the situation, and to draw conclusions about the behaviour and
outcomes that might be expected. Here the goal is to demonstrate your mastery of the
concepts and techniques studied in the module, so you should select an application that
enables you to be ambitious—though without adding complications for their own sake.

Specifically, you may wish to consider the following questions:
• Can your model be enhanced by incorporating imperfect information or repeated
interaction, and if so what further understanding of the situation does this yield?
• Are you able to include one or more parameters (controlling preferences, beliefs,
chance events, technologies, costs, etc.) and carry out comparative statics analysis?
• Can your conclusions be sharpened by requiring subgame perfection or applying
iterative dominance?

Reply 1

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Blake14

The assignment is very open ended, and somewhat advanced. Are you doing a master's degree?

The first person to ask for clarity is the person who wrote the question i.e. the lecturer. Lecturers are not perfect (some might think they are, but they're really not), and for some they might be very unclear and English might not be their first language (most likely not in this case).

The second place I would look for clues is your unit outline. Your unit outline has a list of recommended reading as well as mandatory text. If the teacher/lecturer is willing to set such a question, he/she should have included enough material on the outset for you to score high marks.

The third place I would look is the notes from a specific and relevant lecture (e.g. game theory), then go through the entire material with a fine toothcomb. This can be as small as a sentence; it's incredibly subtle at times.

The fourth place is Wikipedia's sources on the topic e.g. Game theory article. The article itself is good for general review, but the reference list tends to have the key big name references. You would want to pick the references that are most relevant to you.
Closely followed by this would be the references from your mandatory text as well as the recommended reading list.

The fifth place is random articles that you can find on your university database and Google Scholar.

Whilst I can comment and explain what game theory is, the above sounds incredibly theoretical and abstract with no particular context, so you almost have complete free reins on this assignment. The assignment also seems incredibly personal, so it will require you to derive meaning and make sense of things from your point of view (models are great for frameworks, but without context they are just like any other tool).
You will likely need to form models and use numbers and matrices to illustrate your points.