EconSoc Taster
Lesson
Economics: The
Science of Decisions
with Chloe (she/her), Louis (they/them) and Mithal (he/him)
What is Economics?
How do we
make
economic
decisions?
Game
Theory
What is the prisoner’s dilemma?
The
Prisoner’s
Dilemma Game
•
•
•
It’s in both prisoner’s best
interest to confess
This mean’s there is a Nash
equilibrium where they both
confess (neither will change
what they do!)
The intersection of dominant
strategies is going to be a
Nash Equilibrium
Player 2
Player 2: Confess!
Player 2: Stay
Silent
Player 1: Confess!
(-5,-5)
(0,-20)
Player 1: Stay
Silent
(-20,0)
(-1,-1)
Player 1
Vaccination Game (COVID-19)
Ph
arm
Co aceu
mp
ani tical
es
Sell to One
Country
Sell to Multiple
Countries
Purchase from
One Company
(5,5)
(1,10)
Purchase from
Multiple
Companies
(10,1)
(2,2)
Gov
ernm
ents
Strategies in the Vaccination Game
Ph
arm
Co aceu
mp
ani tical
Gov
es
ern
Sell to One
Country
Sell to Multiple
Countries
Purchase from
One Company
(5,5)
(1,10)
Purchase from
Multiple
Companies
(10,1)
(2,2)
men
ts
• If both governments and pharma
companies cooperate, people
can be medicated quickly
• If one chooses to defer, the
company looses out on profits
OR the country gets vaccines a
lot slower
• The stable point is when
vaccines take a while to roll out!
• Show us that monopoly power
leads to poor distribution
Importance of Game
Theory in
Economics
Thanks for listening!