Behavioral Economics

9 units · Undergraduate

Fall: 9 units Behavioral economics has transformed the study of human decision making by challenging one of economics' central assumptions: that people make consistently rational decisions. Why do people make different choices when only the context has changed? Why do people hold inaccurate beliefs, struggle with self-control, or discriminate despite wanting to be fair? How do these patterns shape the decisions people make every day? This course explores how researchers answer these questions. Students read influential and contemporary research from the field's leading journals, learning not only what the field has discovered, but how those discoveries are made. Through experiments, critical analysis of research papers, and collaborative discussion, students learn how behavioral theories are developed, competing explanations are evaluated, and scientific knowledge about human behavior advances. Prerequisites: 73-104 or 73-102