Psychology and Economics (aka Behavioral Economics) is a growing subfield of economics that incorporates insights from psychology and other social sciences into economics. This page covers recent advances in behavioral economics by reviewing some of the assumptions made in mainstream economic models, and by discussing how human behavior systematically departs from these assumptions. Applications will cover a wide range of fields, including labor and public economics, industrial organization, health economics, finance, and development economics.
Lecture 1: Introduction and Overview I
Description: In this first video, Prof. Frank Schilbach introduces the topic of Psychology and Economics, a field that studies the influences of psychological and economic factors on behaviors.
Description: In the second lecture of the course, Prof. Schilbach continues his overview by talking about how economists think about human behavior, utility functions, and social preferences.
Description: In lecture 3, Prof. Schilbach explains the time preference theory, including exponential discounting, quasi-hyperbolic discounting, and sophistication vs. naivete.
Description: In lecture 4, Prof. Schilbach continues to explain the time preference theory, including exponential discounting, quasi-hyperbolic discounting, and sophistication vs. naivete.
Description: In this lecture, Prof. Schilbach discusses the ways that quasi-hyperbolic discounting has many real-world applications for work, exercising, credit cards, drinking, and smoking, among others.
Description: In this video, Prof. Schilbach describes how economics looks at risk preferences, that is, choices involving risk. Specifically, he covers the topics of risk aversion, expected utility, absurd implications, and small- vs. large-scale risk aversion.
Description: This lecture continues the discussion of risk preferences, and delves into reference-dependent preferences, an alternative model to expected utility.
Description: In this video, Prof. Schilbach explains reference-dependent preferences, a central principle in prospect theory, that is, a person evaluates outcomes and expresses preferences relative to an existing reference point.
Description: In this lecture, Prof. Shilbach continues the discussion about social preferences. He explains what social preferences are, how we measure them, and if social preferences are malleable. The instructor explores two types of evidence: lab experiments and field evidence.
Description: This lecture covers field evidence of social preferences, including social preferences in the workplace, policies to increase pro-sociality, and the benefits of pro-sociality.
Description: In this video, Prof. Schilbach provides a review for the mid-term exam. He covers both the types of questions students will encounter and what content they need to know.
Description: In this lecture, the instructor introduces the concept of limited attention, that is, humans will make decisions based on the limited knowledge they can gather.
Description: In this video, the professor discusses why people miss information and fail to learn. People derive utility from (wrong) beliefs. Specifically the instructor explains anticipatory utility and ego utility.
Description: In this video, the professor continues the discussion of why people miss information and fail to learn. People derive utility from (wrong) beliefs. Specifically the instructor covers anticipatory utility and ego utility.
Lecture 17: State-Dependent Preferences, Projection, and Attribution Bias
Description: In this lecture, Prof. Schilbach discusses preference changes, where people's preferences, sometimes unpredictably, change over time. He also covers projection bias, which is when someone is unable to predict their own preferences.
Description: In this video, Prof. Schilbach explains the concepts of gender and identity in relation to economics. Topics include the gender gap, technological solutions, beliefs, and gender identity norms.
Description: In the first half of this video, Prof. Schilbach continues the discussion on gender from lecture 18. He then transitions to talk about non-standard decision-making, specifically defaults, nudges, and frames.
Lecture 20: Malleability and Inaccessibility of Preferences
Description: In this video, Prof. Schilbach finishes the topic of defaults from lecture 19. He then continues to talk about malleability and inaccessibility of preferences.
Lecture 21: Poverty through the Lens of Psychology
Description: This video provides a broad overview of the psychology of poverty. Topics covered include scarcity and the way poverty creates many other deprivations.
Description: In this lecture, the instructor talks about happiness and subjective wellbeing. Topics include rationality and revealed preferences, utility, happiness, and mental health.
Description: In this lecture, Prof. Schilbach talks about paternalism, using the specific example of libertarian paternalism. Additionally, the class also discusses whether to rely on market solutions.