GAME THEORY | Lecture 02 | Contemplative & Competent (Rational Choice)

(Lecture 02 for strategic models (game theory) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign covers rational choice three ways: through binary preference relations; through utility functions; and through revealed preference.

INTRO
0:00:00 i hate to brag, but it's got fair trade shea butter
0:01:00 hey everybody, plus what we're going to talk about
0:04:07 roadmap for the lecture

THE A BLOCK | Regular Binary Preference Relations
0:06:53 zoom, plus motivations

The Idea
0:07:40 the set of alternatives
0:08:40 the notion of weak preference in binary comparisons
0:11:22 visualizing weak preferences
0:12:55 the first descendant relation: strict preference
0:14:04 the second descendant relation: indifference

The Two Primary Rationality Postulates: Regular Preference Relations
0:14:52 the first rationality postulate: completeness (contemplativeness)
0:21:22 the second rationality postulate: transitivity (competence)

THE B BLOCK | Utility Maximization
0:27:05 zoom, plus motivations

The Idea
0:28:47 utility functions, plus an example
0:34:39 a non-example

(Utility) Representability of a Binary Preference Relation
0:36:36 the notion of representability
0:37:52 theorem: regular if and only if representable
0:39:33 the utility representation need not be unique

THE C BLOCK | Revealed Preference and the Weak Axiom of Revealed Preference
0:42:10 zoom, plus motivations

The Idea
0:44:30 the set of alternatives AND the set of menus of alternatives
0:47:58 the choice mapping

The Weak Axiom of Revealed Preference
0:51:22 the question
0:52:15 a formal definition
0:55:09 an example of a WARP violation
0:56:45 WARP versus regularity

OUTRO
1:00:31 zoom, plus choochoo
1:00:47 what did we talk about today?
1:03:30 a provocative thought