CSCI 6314: Algorithmic Economics

Spring 2025

University of Colorado, Boulder



Instructor: Bo Waggoner

Time: Tu/Th 11:00-12:15
Location: Discovery Learning Center 1B20 (in-person modality)

Syllabus


Overview

Summary: This advanced graduate-level course will cover foundations and select advanced topics in Algorithmic Economics and Algorithmic Game Theory. Likely topics include game theory, equilibrium, algorithms for game playing and computational complexity thereof, mechanism design and auction theory, voting theory and computational social choice.

Prerequisites: The course will be theoretical, mathematical, and proof-based. Preprequisites strongly encouraged include multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and probability; as well as undergraduate algorithms and complexity theory. No economic prerequisites are assumed, but some familiarity with game theory and/or microeconomics is beneficial.


Resources and Links


Schedule

Tue, Jan 14

Introduction, utility theory, game theory

Resources

Osborne and Rubinstein Ch 1; Ch 2.1-2.3; vN+M utility theorem discussed in class; risk aversion

Thu, Jan 16

Solution concepts, computing equilibria, PPAD

Resources

Osborne and Rubinstein Ch 3.1-3.2, Ch 4; Roughgarden notes; Lipton, Markakis, Mehta

Tue, Jan 21

Best-response dynamics and congestion games

Resources

Penn lecture notes on congestion games

Thu, Jan 23

Online no-regret learning

Resources

Penn lecture notes on Polynomial Weights (skip page 1); Arora, Hazan, Kale. The Multiplicative Weights Update Method:A Meta-Algorithm and Applications. Theory of Comp., 2012 (survey paper).