IKT 455 - Behavioral Economics

This course provides an introduction to behavioral economics. It aims to familiarize students with the principles and the methods of behavioral economics. In this course, we will study how behavioral economists uses a range of psychological and social phenomena to explain the economic behavior and how these explanations differ from the standard economic models.

Behavioral economics analyzes the ways in which “irrationality” influences the preferences, beliefs, judgements and decisions of people. This course will cover the topics such as overconfidence, loss aversion, procrastination, gambling, addiction, over-eating, framing and persuasion. We will discuss these economic behaviors in reference to the standard economic theory.

• Angner, Erik (2016). A Course in Behavioral Economics, 2nd Ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

• Ariely, Dan (2010). Predictably Irrational. Harper Perennial.
• Thaler, Richard H. and Sunstein, Cass R. (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. London: Penguin Books.
• Thaler, Richard H. (2016). Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Kahneman, Daniel (2013). Thinking, Fast and Slow. 1st Ed. NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Attendance is considered an essential aspect of this course. The material covered in lectures will be a subject of evaluation, and while some topics are available in the textbook, others are exclusive to the lectures. Hence, students are strongly recommended to attend all class meetings regularly and on time. Your punctuality is not only expected but also appreciated.

This course has a zero-tolerance policy for cheating and plagiarism. Students found engaging in such behavior will face severe consequences, including course failure and disciplinary actions. Cheating involves deceit, fraud, or dishonesty, especially during examinations, while plagiarism is the misrepresentation of someone else’s work as your own.