Syllabus

ECON 350 (01) .:BEHAVIORAL&EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS

Spring 2024

1. Course Information

Instructor: Seda Ertaç, sertac@ku.edu.tr

KU Credits: 3.00
ECTS Credits: 6.00
Prerequisite(s): Prerequisites: ECON 100 or ECON 101 or Concent of the Instructor
Class Location & Meeting
Times:
PS (Yes/No): No
DS (Yes/No): No
Lab (Yes/No): No
Language of Instruction: English
Office Hours: Thu. 14:00-15:00 or by appointment

2. Course Description

Topics will be announced when offered.

3. Course Overview

Standard economic models assume that individuals are perfectly selfish and rational. In
reality, people oftentimes display judgment biases (such as overconfidence), have self-
control problems that lead to procrastination or over-eating, and care about other
people's payoffs. Behavioral economics incorporates psychological insights into
economic models, with the goal of better explaining individuals' observed behavior in
many domains, including education, labor, health, and finance. Experimental economics,
on the other hand, focuses on the design of controlled laboratory and field experiments,
in order to collect data for understanding how individuals make economic decisions in
reality. This course will introduce students to behavioral models of decision-making in
several major decision contexts in conjunction with related experiments, and study their
applications to a diverse set of contexts. Students will learn different models of human
behavior and how to test them using laboratory and field experiments, and will also get a
chance to participate in some in-class experiments as subjects. The course material also
brings together interdisciplinary elements (from psychology and neuroscience).

4. Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs):

CLO # Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to…
Learn about behavioral models of decision-making and the potential shortcomings of standard
1
economic models
Learn how to use experimental methods to better understand human decision-making in a
2
variety of domains
Learn the broad range of applications of behavioral decision-making and experimental
3
methods, including interdisciplinary applications
4 Learn how to incorporate insights from psychology into economics
 5 Design and present their own (experimental) research on how individuals make decisions

5. Assessment Methods

Method Description Weight %

Midterm Exam Midterm exam 50.00
Project Group project preparation, presentation and paper 40.00
Attendance Attendance and participation 10.00
Total: 100.00

6. Instructional Material and Learning Resources

• Active Use of Course Page on Blackboard: https://ku.blackboard.com/

• KOLT Tutoring: No Service Available

7. Course Schedule

Meeting Times Subject

8. Student Code of Conduct and Academic Grievance Procedure

Student Code of Conduct

Statement on Academic Honesty with Emphasis on Plagiarism

Academic Grievance Procedure

9. Course Policies

There is no single textbook we will use, but we will refer to some chapters from Markets, Games and
Strategic Behavior by Charles Holt (2007), and A Course in Behavioral Economics by Erik Angner (2016).
Some relevant chapters from these books will be put on e-reserve. But above all, it is extremely important
that you attend class, interact and take notes if you want to do well in this class. There is a Blackboard
website for the course, where notes and slides, problem sets etc. will be uploaded. We will go through the
basics of all material in class, so that everyone taking the course is on the same page.

10. Other

List of Topics:
1a. The Standard Model of Economic Behavior
-What is the standard economic model of decision-making?
-Do people actually behave in line with the standard model?
1b. What are experiments? How can experiments help us understand economic behavior?
-What is a good experimental design?
-Eliciting preferences and attitudes through behavioral tasks
-Predictive power of measured preferences in explaining "real behavior"
2. Behavioral Models of Individual-Decision-Making and Related Experiments
2a. Decision-Making under Uncertainty
-Risk-aversion, judgment biases, overconfidence, prospect theory, the "endowment effect"
-Ways of experimentally measuring risk preferences
2b. Decision-Making Over Time
-Patience, self-control problems, procrastination
-Applications to health, education, finance
-Ways of experimentally measuring time preferences and self-control
3. Other-Regarding (Non-selfish) Preferences: Altruism, Fairness, Trust, Reciprocity
4. Gender Differences in Economic Decision-Making

6. Field Experiments in Education, Economic Development, Discrimination

7. Behavioral Economics and Policy
-How to get people to work? Incentives in education and organizations
-"Nudges"
8. Student Project Presentations