Decision-making is part of everyday life, and it can have far-reaching impacts that set off a chain of events that cannot be predicted. For example, why do some students delay studying for a big exam, or why do some people avoid exercising? Researchers have combined economics and psychology to understand how humans act, what constitutes a good decision, and what makes a good decision-maker. In this course, students will examine how economists think people ought to behave through the lens of microeconomics and game theory. They will explore how cognitive and psychological biases may lead individuals to deviate from the normative economics framework and examine how conventional microeconomic theories have been extended to account for these behavioral anomalies to build more realistic models. Additionally, we will also look at areas of policies where insights about behavioral economics have been fruitfully applied to improve people's decisions.
*Parts of these lecture notes are based on notes from Roy Chen, Erik Eyster, Lorenz Goette, Peter Kuhn and Lim Wei Shi. All errors are mine alone.