Course Description
Methods for individual choice in the face of political alternatives. The role of individual decision making in orienting political behavior and determining how and when political actors come into conflict or behave cooperatively.
Athena Title
Game Theory
Prerequisite
POLS 1101
Semester Course Offered
Not offered on a regular basis.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, students should have learned: 1) how individuals make rational choices 2) how individuals' interests can be aggregated into a common, collective choice 3) how collective choices are affected by institutional structures in a. Congress b. Bureaucratic agencies c. Federal Courts 4) how collective choices are affected by different electoral procedures
Topical Outline
1. Course Introduction 2. Prerequisites for an individual's rational choice 3. Binary relations 4. Aggregating individual preferences into a collective choice 5. Tensions between individual rationality and collective rationality 6. Arrow's Theorem 7. Robustness issues related to Arrow's results a. Black's Theorem b. May's Theorem c. Plott's Theorem d. McKelvey's Theorem 8. Implications of Arrow's results for political institutions, including a. Congress b. Bureaucratic Agencies c. Federal Courts 9. Implications of Arrow's results for elections
Syllabus