Behavioral Economics &Public Policy

Catalog description

This course provides an overview of research in “behavioral economics” which integrates insights from psychology into economic models of behavior. We’ll survey a range of topics which comprise the standard behavioral economic canon — focusing on ways in which individuals may systematically depart from assumptions such as perfect rationality, self interest, and time consistency of decisions. It will examine models of non-standard preferences and decision rules, and discuss empirical strategies for distinguishing between such behavioral decision-making and the predictions of the standard model. Behavioral economics incorporates insights from social psychology, experimental economics, and sociology. Important areas of emphasis will be behavior towards risky outcomes, financial decision making, and applications to social institutions such as taxation and public finance, An important emphasis will be on how insights into behavioral economics can and should influence the design of public policy programs.