Experience from a Course in Game Theory: Pre- and Postclass Problem Sets as a Didactic Device

The paper summarizes my experience in teaching an undergraduate course in game theory in 1998. Students were required to submit two types of problem sets: preclass problem sets, which served as experiments, and postclass standard problem sets. The separation emphasizes the limited relevance of game theory as a tool for making predictions and giving advice. The paper summarizes the results of 41 experiments which were conducted during the course. It is argued that the crude experimental methods produced results which are not substantially different from those obtained using stricter experimental methods. For further information on the 41 experiments and results, see http://www.princeton.edu/~ariel/99/gt100.html. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: A2, C7, C9.