Introduction to Behavioral Economics

🎓 Introduction to Behavioral Economics 🚀

Course Headline:

Dive into the Mind of a Consumer - Learn to Make Smarter Choices with Behavioral Economics!

Course Description:

Hello, aspiring economists and curious minds! 🌟

I have some exciting news and an update regarding our "Introduction to Behavioral Economics" course. Due to unforeseen circumstances and a lack of time, I've made the difficult decision to discontinue this course for now. However, fear not! This is not the end. I am fully committed to completing and revising this course in its entirety. Your understanding and support are incredibly valuable, and I appreciate all of you who have already signed up and provided constructive feedback. Thank you for your patience as we navigate this pause, and rest assured, we will return to deliver a top-notch learning experience!

What You'll Learn:

Behavioral economics is more than just a field; it's the study of how we actually make decisions, not just how we 'should' according to traditional economic theory. It uncovers the myriad factors that influence our choices, revealing when and where those decisions diverge from what classical economics might predict.

In this course, you will:

• 📈 Explore Traditional Economics: Understand the foundations of economics, including concepts like utility, demand, supply, and expected utility theory.
• 🧬 Discover Behavioral Economics Foundations: Learn about the early survey responses and economic experiments that paved the way for this intriguing field.
• 🤔 Delve into Human Decision-Making: Grapple with concepts like bounded rationality, dual system theory, prospect theory, regret theory, and the fourfold pattern of decision-making.
• 🧠 Identify Decision Heuristics and Cognitive Biases: Recognize heuristics such as representativeness, availability, anchoring & adjustment, and affect; and understand cognitive biases like mental accounting, hyperbolic discounting, loss aversion, endowment effect, scarcity bias, and more.
• 👥 Understand Social Norms and Social Preferences: Explore how these influence individual and collective decision-making.
• 🛠️ Apply Behavioral Economics Frameworks: Get to grips with influential models like EAST, Double Diamond, MINDSPACE, COMBI/COM-B.
• 🌍 See Behavioral Economics in Action: Learn how choice architecture, policymaking, and real-world examples apply behavioral economics principles effectively.

Course Outline:

1. Introduction to Behavioral Economics (BE)

   • Locating BE within the social sciences.

2. Economics Foundations

   • Utility, demand, and supply.
   • Expected utility theory.
   • Defending rationality in economics.

3. Behavioral Economics Foundations

   • Early survey responses.
   • Economic experiments and games.

4. Human Decision-Making

   • Bounded rationality.
   • Dual system theory of thinking.
   • Prospect theory.
     • Probability-weighting function.
     • Value function.
   • Regret theory.
   • The fourfold pattern of decision-making.

5. Decision Heuristics and Cognitive Biases

   • Representativeness, availability, anchoring & adjustment, affect.

6. Cognitive Biases

   • Mental accounting.
   • Hyperbolic discounting.
   • Loss aversion.
   • Endowment effect.
   • Scarcity bias.
   • And many more...

7. Social Norms and Social Preferences

8. Behavioral Economics Frameworks

   • EAST (Evaluate, Apply, Specify, Trade-off).
   • Double Diamond.
   • MINDSPACE.
   • COMBI/COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation – behavior).

9. Behavioral Economics in Action

   • Choice architecture.
   • Policymaking.
   • Real-world examples of BE application.

10. Wrap-Up: Conclusion and Takeaways

    • Summarize key insights and practical applications of behavioral economics.

This course is designed to equip you with the knowledge to understand why we make the choices we do and how to influence those decisions for better outcomes. Whether you're a student, a professional, or simply someone curious about the science of decision-making, this course will provide valuable insights into the economic behavior of individuals, businesses, and governments alike.

Join us on this journey to uncover the intricacies of human behavior in economics! 💫

We'll be back soon with updates on the relaunch of this course. In the meantime, if you have any questions or need further information, please don't hesitate to reach out. Your pursuit of knowledge in behavioral economics is important, and we're committed to supporting you every step of the way! 🤝

Sign up for updates, and stay tuned for when our "Introduction to Behavioral Economics" course resumes its journey through the fascinating landscape of consumer choice and economic theory. Let's explore this together! 🚀✨