BEHAVIORAL AND EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS 1

The main goal of this course is to provide an overview of the experimental methodology and a critical outline of some of the most active and influential areas of research in the field of behavioural economics, with a focus on the empirical methodologies adopted, on the theoretical implications of the findings, and on their possible applications.

At the end of the course, you should have acquired knowledge of some of the most active and influential areas of research in behavioral economics and should have acquired a set of basic tools which are necessary to understand the existing experimental literature, and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of an experimental paper.

No prerequisite is required to attend the course.

Experimental and Behavioral Economics: Introduction

Design of Experiments in Economics & topics in Behavioural Economics: from the research question to the publication of the paper
• Between/within subjects design
• Strategy method vs. direct method
• Anonymity and Observability
• Beliefs Elicitation
• Power analysis: How many subjects/sessions per treatment?
• Writing and reading instructions: framing effects and priming.
• What is a good experiment? An application to dishonesty

Other-regarding preferences
• Model of other-regarding preferences
• Evidence of other-regardin preferences and their interactions with monetary incentives

Gender Economics & experiments

This course will be based on academic papers (which are available online and in the moodle page) and lecture notes (slides). Additional suggestion: “Foundations of Behavioral Economic Analysis” (2015) by Sanjit Dhami.

• Individual presentation: 40% of the final mark. In the last two lectures of the course, each student will have to present and discuss one of the papers shaded in yellow (see above). The presentation should last about 45 minutes including the discussion. All students are expected to participate in the discussion.

• 60% of the final mark is determined by the final exam. The final exam will last about 1.5 hours and will include a set of 5 questions covering topics discussed in class (i.e. experimental methods, behavioral models discussed in class and their interpretation, the methods used to analyse experimental data, papers shaded in yellow). During the final exam you can use calculators (but not other electronic devices), but you cannot consult notes, books, or other written material.

This class consists of class lectures, discussions and in-class presentation and discussion of specific papers.
In the syllabus, there are three kinds of readings:
• Required readings.
• Readings that will be presented and discussed by you or by your colleagues in the last two classes of this course. All students are expected to read these papers, and to participate in the discussion.
• Optional readings that are useful to get a broader perspective of the topic discussed in each class.

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development