ECON 106G
Introduction to Game Theory
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one to two hours (when scheduled). Requisite: course 101. Enforced corequisite: course 106GL. Enrollment priority to Business Economics majors. Introduction to basic ideas of game theory and strategic thinking. Discussion of ideas such as dominance, backward induction, Nash equilibrium, commitment, credibility, asymmetric information, and signaling, with application to examples from economics, politics, business, and other real-life situations. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
He has a slight German accent and often times he makes everything sound more complicated than it actually is. You need to do four homework assignments for this class and they are extremely challenging. Since there is not much material to study for this class (his lecture notes and homework are everything you have), you need to know everything backward and forward. Even then, the problems on homework will be totally unexpected and unpredictable. I felt like I kept missing some stuff in class because not much in homework assignments and on the final reflect what he taught in class. I guess you just need to be smart to do well in this class. Like the other person said, the midterm was so easy that 90 was the average score.
He has a slight German accent and often times he makes everything sound more complicated than it actually is. You need to do four homework assignments for this class and they are extremely challenging. Since there is not much material to study for this class (his lecture notes and homework are everything you have), you need to know everything backward and forward. Even then, the problems on homework will be totally unexpected and unpredictable. I felt like I kept missing some stuff in class because not much in homework assignments and on the final reflect what he taught in class. I guess you just need to be smart to do well in this class. Like the other person said, the midterm was so easy that 90 was the average score.
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Marek may have taught me some of the most practical lessons I'll learn in my undergraduate education at UCLA. We dealt with optimal purchasing strategies in auctions and matching mechanisms in practical situations: from Ebay, to the system residents go through when being paired with hospitals. He's a laid back professor who made the concepts easy to understand. If nothing else he opened my eyes to the many more problems I've been navigated through using these systems. I'd suggest him to any student.
Professor Marek may have taught me some of the most practical lessons I'll learn in my undergraduate education at UCLA. We dealt with optimal purchasing strategies in auctions and matching mechanisms in practical situations: from Ebay, to the system residents go through when being paired with hospitals. He's a laid back professor who made the concepts easy to understand. If nothing else he opened my eyes to the many more problems I've been navigated through using these systems. I'd suggest him to any student.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - Professor Sadzik teaches the class in an engaging way and provides several examples in each lecture. The examples he gives in lectures tend to be complicated and challenging though. The problem sets also tend to have challenging questions but the TA provided notes and guides on how to solve them. The midterm was easier than the final and because of that, the class was curved. Taking the midterm is encouraged. For the midterm and final, he provided prep guides that have similar problems (with variations). In addition, ECON 106GL has a group project where you present a “game” to a panel of UCLA alumni. The grade for 106G and 106GL is separate where 106G is based on exams and problem sets, while 106GL is based solely on the project. Overall, the professor is passionate about game theory, is caring to the students, and if you show effort to the class, you should be fine. Take this class if you need to satisfy upper-division econ elective.
Winter 2025 - Professor Sadzik teaches the class in an engaging way and provides several examples in each lecture. The examples he gives in lectures tend to be complicated and challenging though. The problem sets also tend to have challenging questions but the TA provided notes and guides on how to solve them. The midterm was easier than the final and because of that, the class was curved. Taking the midterm is encouraged. For the midterm and final, he provided prep guides that have similar problems (with variations). In addition, ECON 106GL has a group project where you present a “game” to a panel of UCLA alumni. The grade for 106G and 106GL is separate where 106G is based on exams and problem sets, while 106GL is based solely on the project. Overall, the professor is passionate about game theory, is caring to the students, and if you show effort to the class, you should be fine. Take this class if you need to satisfy upper-division econ elective.
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