Lecture 14: Folk Theorem

MIT 14.12 Economic Applications of Game Theory, Fall 2025 Instructor: Ian Ball View the complete course: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/14-12-economic-applications-of-game-theory-fall-2025/ YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP63quuKvMHCt3cmTmt0O2qpv The Folk Theorem states that in infinitely repeated games, any feasible and individually rational payoff can be sustained as a Nash equilibrium (or subgame perfect equilibrium), meaning cooperation, punishment, and a wide range of outcomes become possible when the future matters enough. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA More information at https://ocw.mit.edu/terms More courses at https://ocw.mit.edu Support OCW at http://ow.ly/a1If50zVRlQ We encourage constructive comments and discussion on OCW’s YouTube and other social media channels. Personal attacks, hate speech, trolling, and inappropriate comments are not allowed and may be removed. More details at https://ocw.mit.edu/comments.