Social Psych of Econ Behavior

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Economics has developed as a highly deductive social science. It begins with rather rigid assumptions about how human beings should behave to be “rational.” These were developed in the late-18th Century. Yet, inductive approaches, such as psychology and sociology understand human behavior with much a more inductive lens. How do people actually act economically and socially in feudal, capitalist, socialist, or communist economic systems? How do they react to the “rules of the game” and what are the consequences? This course examines and compares the economic systems humans have used historically to define the social psychology of economic behavior. It also addresses the future of economic systems given new technologies like automation and artificial intelligence and the rapid expansion of globalization and online commerce.