Game theory
Graphs
Analyzing best-response dynamics
Coordination in social networks
Contagion in social networks
More on graphs: flows and matchings
Traffic network games
Matching markets
Exchange networks
Mechanism design and auctions
Voting: basic notions
Voting: barriers and way around them
One-sided matchings: house allocation problems
Two-sided matchings: stable marriages
Web search
The wisdom and foolishness of crowds
Knowledge and common knowledge
Common knowledge of rationality
Markets with network effects

This introductory graduate-level text uses tools from game theory and graph theory to examine the role of network structures and network effects in economic and information markets. The goal is for students to develop an intuitive and mathematically rigorous understanding of how strategic agents interact in a connected world. The text synthesizes some of the central results in the field while also simplifying their treatment to make them more accessible to nonexperts. Thus, students at the introductory level will gain an understanding of key ideas in the field that are usually only taught at the advanced graduate level.

The book introduces basic concepts from game theory and graph theory as well as some fundamental algorithms for exploring graphs. These tools are then applied to analyse strategic interactions over social networks, to explore different types of markets and mechanisms for networks, and to study the role of beliefs and higher-level beliefs (beliefs about beliefs). Specific topics discussed include coordination and contagion on social networks, traffic networks, matching and matching markets, exchange networks, auctions, voting, web search, models of belief and knowledge, and how beliefs affect auctions and markets. An appendix offers a “Primer on Probability.” Mathematically rigorous, the text assumes a level of mathematical maturity (comfort with definitions and proofs) in the reader.