Virtual markets

Course code:

INFOVM

Period:

period 1 (week 37 - 45, i.e. 8-9-2008 until  7-11-2007)

Schedule:

form	time	week	room	teacher
class	mo 9-11	37-45	BBL-420	Frank Dignum
	wed 9-11	37-45	BBL-505

See for a detailed schedule below!

NEWS

Final marks are available below under the marks link.

Content (general):

In this course we discuss the following topics: 

• Game theory 

This provides the basic principles of markets and auctions. Concepts such as equilibrium, strategy, perfect information, and competitive games will be discussed. We will also briefly discuss some computational aspects of game theory. . 

• Auctions

Dutch, English and Vickrey auctions are examples of auctions with different protocols. Which protocol is best for the seller? Which is best for the buyer? In which circumstances? These are questions that we hope to answer in this part. 

• Negotiations

We will describe some tool for negotiation support and also discuss real negotiation, the topics, questions, etc. 

• Agent Trading Competition

This is the competition that is used by the students to practice the theory discussed in the rest of this course. 

content classes

8 September 2008

• Introduction and Trade Agent Competition
• Overview and Introduction TAC game
• Technical introduction TAC game

10 September 2008

• Game Theory I: 
• Strategic Games

15 September 2008

• Game Theory II
1. Equilibria and Security Levels in Strategic Games
2. Exercises for practice

17 September 2008

• Game Theory III
• Mixed Strategies 1

22 September 2008

• Game Theory IV
• Extensive Games and backward induction

24 September 2008

• No class!

29 September 2008

• Game Theory V
• Zermelo's algorithm

1 October 2008

• Game Theory VI
• Hex and Social Choice

6 October 2008

• Auctions I
• Uncertainty in games

8 October 2008

• Auctions II
• Auction theory (presentation)
• article about auction theory and literature guide
• overview of auctions (easily readable, but not formal)

13 October 2008

• Auctions III
• Common value auctions
• Sniping
• Mechanism design and deliberative agents

15 October 2008

• Auctions IV
• combinatorial auctions
• article about GVA
• Expressive bidding in auctions

20 October 2008

• Negotiation I
• bargaining
• negotiation support (smart settle)
• negotiation

22 October 2008

• Agent Mediated Electronic Commerce
• automated negotiation (using agents)

• Interest Based Negotiation with agents

27 October 2008

• Trade Agent Competition

29 October 2008

• Trade Agent Competition
• presentations schedule, October 29
• results of the competition in Utrecht 2008
• TAC 2001

Literature:

Advised (NOT COMPULSARY!) literature in order of importance:

• K. Binmore, Playing for Real, Oxford University Press, 2007.
• H.S. Bierman and L. Fernandez, Game theory with economic applications, Addison Wesley, USA.
• P. Klemperer, Auctions: Theory and Practice, Princeton University Press, USA.
• Rosenschein & Zlotkin, Rules of Encounter (Designing Conventions for Automated Negotiation among Computers) MIT Press, England.
• R. Fischer and W. Ury, Getting to yes, Penguin, New York.

Format:

2 classes per week

Assignments

The assignment consists of two parts. 

• The first part consists of the building and analysing of an agent for the TAC. This part can be done in groups of 2-4 students.
• Information about the TAC assignment
• Information on the TAC competition 
• See above (content classes) for information on the presentation schedule on Wednesday, October 1
• Final report should be handed in before November 10
• Some exercises to get started
• Strategies of TAC agents used in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 (Dutch)
• Software agent that might be used tot test again (Competitor from 2004)
• The second part of the assignment consists of a number of small assignments available during the course and to be sent to the lecturer before the deadline. These assignments are to be made individually! 
• Assignment 1: auctions

Deadline 28 September

• Assignment 2: mixed strategies

Deadline 8 October

• Assignment 3: backward induction 

       Deadline 15 October

• Assignment 4: auctions revisited

Deadline 22 October

Final mark:

The final mark is determined using the following formule: 

(Average(mark assignments) + 3* agent strategy mark + analysis mark)/5

Test format:

The marks are determined through assignments and material developed for an electronic trading competition 

Overview of marks:

List of marks (with the usual caveats about possible mistakes)