Reasoning in Static and Dynamic Games
June 30 – July 11, 2025
Maastricht University
Followed by: Conference on Theoretical Aspects of Rationality and Knowledge (TARK 2025), July 14-16, 2025, in Düsseldorf (Germany).
Düsseldorf is only 100 km away from Maastricht, hence it can conveniently be combined with the summer course.
Register for course: The registration deadline is June 1, 2025. To register, first pay the registration fee of 80 euros (see below), then make a picture or screenshot of your bank transfer, and subsequently fill in the registration form.
In the registration form, you need to upload this picture or screenshot as a proof that you have paid the registration fee.
Register early: We can only allow 30 students to the course. So please be early with your registration. The first 30 students who register will be able to follow the course.
Registration fee: The registration fee is 80 euros. Please transfer 80 euros, mentioning “Order number 45290000024N EGT course” and your name, to:
Maastricht University
IBAN: NL05 INGB 0657 6187 05, SWIFT (or BIC) code: INGBNL2A
Bank address: ING Bank, Oost-Brabant BB, Schimmelt 36, 5611 ZX Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Beneficiary address: Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands
Please mention clearly “Order number 45290000024N EGT course” and your name. Otherwise we cannot trace your payment! The fee has to be paid before June 1st, 2025.
Without the payment of the course fee, your registration is not complete.
About this course: The EPICENTER, our research center on Epistemic Game Theory at Maastricht University, offers this two-week intensive course as an introduction to the blooming field of Epistemic Game Theory. This field takes a new, fresh approach to game theory, and studies how people reason in game theoretic situations before they eventually make a choice. More precisely, it explores how we reason about the minds of others before we make a choice. Hence, the reasoning of people like you and me is at the center stage of epistemic game theory.
The course consists of three parts: standard reasoning in static games, cautious reasoning in static games, and reasoning in dynamic games.
In static games, the players only make one choice, and choose in complete ignorance of the other players’ choices. For standard reasoning we focus on the central reasoning concept of common belief in rationality, and investigate what happens if we add a correct beliefs assumption.
Cautious reasoning means that a player, before he makes a choice himself, does not completely discard any opponent’s choice from consideration. For this part we will investigate different variants of common belief in rationality.
In dynamic games, a player may have to make more than one choice, and may fully or partially observe what other players have done before he makes a choice himself. We explore backward and forward induction reasoning, embodied by the reasoning concepts of common belief in future rationality and common strong belief in rationality.
Last year we have provided a course on incomplete information, unawareness and psychological games. To follow this year’s course, it is not necessary to have followed the previous edition. In fact, you should be able to follow this year’s course without having any prior knowledge about game theory. The course is completely self-contained.
Audience: The course is primarily meant for advanced bachelor students, master students and PhD students all over the world, but researchers are also very welcome.
Instructors: The instructors for this course are Christian Bach (University of Reading, UK), Rubén Becerril (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana de Mexico), Stephan Jagau (University of Nottingham, UK), Niels Mourmans (Central Bureau of Statistics, Netherlands), Andrés Perea (Maastricht University, Netherlands), Joep van Sloun (Maastricht University, The Netherlands) and Elias Tsakas (Maastricht University, Netherlands) — all members of our EPICENTER. For more information about the instructors, click here
Literature: The course will be based on the textbook “Epistemic Game Theory: Reasoning and Choice” by Andrés Perea. The book has been published by Cambridge University Press in 2012.
Organization of the course: The course stretches over 10 days, of which the last day consists of a written exam. Typically, a day consists of two theory lectures and one exercise session, where the two theory lectures cover one chapter from the book “Epistemic Game Theory: Reasoning and Choice”. One exception is the day where Elias Tsakas presents advanced topics, which are not covered by the book, and for which there are no exercises. In the exercise sessions we will discuss some problems from the book which you should prepare the day before. On the last Thursday we will discuss the exam from 2023. Your grade will be based on the exam. To pass the exam, you must score at least a 5.5 out of 10. But you are also free to participate without taking the exam.
Certificate: If you attend at least 20 out of 23 sessions, you will receive an official certificate stating that you successfully followed the course. The certificate also states that the workload of this course corresponds to 6.5 ECTS. If you successfully take the exam, by scoring at least a 5.5 out of 10, you will receive a special certificate which states that you also took the exam, and it specifies the grade you obtained for the exam. At your home university, this should normally be sufficient to obtain 6.5 ECTS for following the course.
Housing: If you would like to rent a room in Maastricht at a reasonable price during these two weeks, please visit: https://www.maastrichthousing.com/ . They offer rooms / apartments at a very reasonable price per day. On their website, indicate that you are a summer school student.
Previous editions: If you want to see some pictures from previous editions, and want to know which students participated and where they came from, please click here
Questions? If you have further questions, please send an E-mail to Andrés Perea at: course@epicenter.name
Schedule
Sessions will take place at Maastricht University
School of Business and Economics, Tongersestraat 53
Room A1.22
Maastricht, The Netherlands
