Browse Hierarchy ECON6020: Behavioural Economics

Over the last few decades, a new stream of thinking has developed within economics that allows people to make mistakes in decision-making and be altruistic - i.e. care about others' utility as well as their own. This module will relax the assumption of "homo economicus", where individuals are considered to be perfectly rational and concerned only about maximising their own welfare. Relaxing these assumptions has led to interesting results that have changed the way economists analyse agent behaviour in strategic interactions. This module will develop student understanding of strategic behaviour in encounters with other individuals, modelled as games. Concepts such as bounded rationality, cognitive bias, market design, equilibrium selection and policies such as nudge, will be examined in detail.