L1 ECONOMIE Economie Elective (English language)

This course introduces students to strategic social interactions through games and experiments. The aim is not to turn students into technical game theorists in 15CM, but to give them an intuitive toolkit for thinking strategically and causally. Students will play games, learn the theory behind these games, observe how behavior changes under experimental interventions, connect simple models to real social problems, and learn why elegant predictions sometimes wobble when real humans enter the room.

We will use cooperation, coordination, and bargaining games to understand situations such as trade, conflict, environmental pollution, strikes, public health precautions, software standards, and why people drive on one side of the road rather than inventing road-confetti chaos every morning.

Learning Objectives

1.         Solve very simple game-theoretic models using basic logic and algebra, including dominant strategies, best responses, Nash equilibrium, and simple sequential games.

2.         Understand the logic of causality using experimental methods, including random assignment, control groups, treatment effects, confounding, and endogenous versus exogenous processes.

3.         Apply strategic and causal reasoning to real-world political, social, and economic situations.

4.         Recognize both the power and limitations of simple models: when they clarify behavior, when they miss motives or context, and when political institutions, norms, religions, psychological processes, or other forces change outcomes.

5.         Build curiosity and confidence for subsequent methods courses in theory, statistics, experiments, policy evaluation, and quantitative social science.