Game, set, match! What game theory can tell us about sports strategy

There is often a perception amongst the public that economics is all about money and focuses on macroeconomic factors such as GDP and unemployment.

This Festival of Social Science event, led by Dr Matthew Olczak, Reader in Economics at Aston University and Dr Chris Wilson, Senior Lecturer in Economics at Loughborough University, will demonstrate that economists are also interested in investigating individual decision making. Through an interactive online game, participants will experience strategic decision making first-hand, before discussing what influenced their choices and whether these strategies proved successful. Furthermore, as we will discuss, the insights provided have implications for a diverse range of activities in society. As we will demonstrate, this includes strategies adopted by competitors in sports such as tennis and football.

Participants will therefore gain new understanding of the diverse real-world insights economic understanding can provide.