Instructor
Daniel Houser, Professor, Chairman of Economics Department, George Mason University
Course Description
This course provides an overview of behavioral economics, an emerging subfield which integrates insights from psychology into economic models of behavior. We'll study ways in which individuals systematically depart from assumptions such as perfect rationality, self-interest, time consistency, etc. The course is divided into three sections: (i) non-standard preferences, (ii) non-standard beliefs, and (iii) non-standard decision rules. The course will question many of the assumptions of the standard models, but not the fundamental emphasis on mathematical tools which characterizes modern economics. This course, and behavioral economics more generally, emphasize formal models of individual choice similar to those presented in microeconomics theory classes; the goal is to modify standard models so as to increase psychological realism and improve predictive power. We also focus on the applications of behavioral economics to topics in public finance and taxation.
