Mini-Courses

Each year, the CMS-EMS and CET will invite to campus distinguished scholars to give mini-courses on a topic of current interest. These mini-courses are open to all members of the Northwestern community as well as visitors from other Colleges and Universities. There will be two "teachers" in the Fall series: Benny Moldovanu, Chair of Economic Theory II, University of Bonn, who is visiting the CET and Math Center, and Matthew Jackson, Eberle Professor of Economics, Stanford University.

Benny Moldovanu's Mini-Course: "Dynamic Mechanism Design"

6 lectures starting Sept. 30
Mon & Weds 12:00-1:30
Mon in Jacobs G44; Weds in Jacobs G43
Reading List

The mini-course will survey several recent developments in dynamic mechanism design. Topics included: sequential assignment models and order statistics, queueing models, continuous-time revenue management models, dynamic Clarke-Groves-Vickrey mechanisms, Bayesian learning and implementation, and mechanism design with interdependent values.

Matthew Jackson's Mini-Course: "Network Formation and Patterns of Behavior"

3 lectures starting Nov. 16
Mon, Tues & Weds 12:10-1:10
Mon & Weds in Jacobs G42; Tues in Jacobs G27
Reading List
SLIDES

The mini-course will provide an overview of some recent research on social network formation as well as how network patterns of interactions affect behavior. This includes discussion of recent models of network formation combining random and strategic approaches, as well as studies of how network structure affects learning, both Bayesian and non-Bayesian, and theoretical and empirical studies of other behavioral contagions and diffusion.