Courses Exchange Display 2022-2023

Course Description To PDF
Course title Economic Psychology
Course code EBC2103
ECTS credits 6,5
Assessment Whole/Half Grades
Period
Period Start End Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri
2 31-10-2022 16-12-2022 X X
Level Intermediate
Coordinator Peter Werner
For more information: p.werner@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Language of instruction English
Goals
Acquiring a structured insight into the important roles of psychological factors and processes in judgment and decision-making of economic agents
Learning about the relations between psychology and economics
Learning about practical implications of insights into behavioral regularities
Description
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT METHOD(S) USED IN THIS COURSE IS WITH RESERVATION. A RE-EMERGENCE OF THE CORONAVIRUS AND NEW COUNTERMEASURES BY THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT MIGHT FORCE COORDINATORS TO CHANGE THE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT METHODS USED. THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TEACHING/ASSESSMENT METHOD(S) WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE COURSE SYLLABUS.

Increasingly, economists are discovering insights from psychology as a means to enrich their models of economic behaviour. The importance of this is illustrated by the fact that the Nobel prize winner in economics in 2002 was the distinguished psychologist Daniel Kahneman. He characterizes his research as a quest for the ‘logic of the irrational’. Adam Smith already recognized that economic, just like other, behaviour is motivated by an intriguing blend of ‘rational’ considerations and ‘irrational’ sentiments. The great challenge is to investigate the implications of the latter motives for economics.
This course aims to give an intensive introduction into this field. After a review of basic principles of rational decision-making under uncertainty, the first part of the course gives an overview of psychological research related to judgment and decision-making. Examples include insights from psychology on how decision-makers assess probabilities and how they evaluate the outcomes resulting from their decisions. Actual patterns of judgment and decision-making are compared to basic principles of rational decision-making in order to detect systematic behavioral regularities and biases of real decision-makers. The second part of the course deals with examples of how psychological regularities influence economic decision-making in the field and the importance of these regularities for law and policy. Finally, the course gives an introduction to the field of neuroeconomics.
Literature
Hastie, Reid and Robyn M. Dawes. Rational choice in an uncertain world: The psychology of judgment and decision making. Sage, 2010.
Articles and chapters from books.
Prerequisites
Basic understanding of microeconomics (level comparable to: course Economics and Business), probability theory and mathematics (level comparable to course QM2)
An advanced level of English
Teaching methods (indicative; course manual is definitive) Presentation / Lecture / Groupwork
Assessment methods (indicative; course manual is definitive) Participation / Written Exam / Presentation
Evaluation in previous academic year For the complete evaluation of this course please click "here"
This course belongs to the following programmes / specialisations
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Bachelor Economics and Business Economics - International Business Economics Year 3 Economics Elec(s) - Maj Finance
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Bachelor Economics and Business Economics - International Business Economics Year 3 Economics Elec(s) - Maj Marketing
Bachelor Economics and Business Economics - International Business Economics Year 3 Economics Elec(s) - Maj Org
Bachelor Economics and Business Economics - International Business Economics Year 3 Economics Elec(s) - Maj SCM
Bachelor Economics and Business Economics - International Business Economics Year 3 Economics Elec(s) - Maj Strategy
Bachelor International Business - Emerging Markets Year 3 Elective Course(s)
Bachelor International Business Year 3 Economics Elec(s) - Maj Accounting
Bachelor International Business Year 3 Economics Elec(s) - Maj Finance
Bachelor International Business Year 3 Economics Elec(s) - Maj Inf Mgmt
Bachelor International Business Year 3 Economics Elec(s) - Maj Marketing
Bachelor International Business Year 3 Economics Elec(s) - Maj Org
Bachelor International Business Year 3 Economics Elec(s) - Maj SCM
Bachelor International Business Year 3 Economics Elec(s) - Maj Strategy
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