Theory of Behavioral Economics

This course provides a formal introduction to behavioral economics, focusing mostly on individual decision making. For different choice domains, we start by analyzing the behavior implied by benchmark models used by economists (e.g. rational choice, expected utility, exponential discounting). Experimental and empirical evidence is then used to highlight some limitations of these models, and to motivate new models that have been introduced to account for these violations. We will cover, for instance, models of limited attention, non-expected utility, and hyperbolic discounting.