Principles of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
Syllabus – Disclaimer: Some modification is possible. You will be informed.
1. General information
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Instructor: Linda Dezső, linda.dezso@univie.ac.at, Office hours arranged per e-mail.
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Lectures: Mondays (9.45-11.30) and Tuesdays (11.30-13.00), see schedule below.
Note that
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Start date: 01.03.2022. End date: 28.06.2022 (final exam)
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BA Thesis: You are welcome to write your BA thesis on topics I can handle.
Deadline for submitting those: 31.08.2022.
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Language: English
2. Course Content
In this course, we will discuss the most important topics in behavioral economics and
experimental economics. In behavioral economics, we study deviations from conventional
economics and apply the insights to the relevant settings to better understand the issues at
hand. Experimental economics adapts experimental methods developed in the natural
sciences to study economic behavior. Experiments are valuable in empirically underpinning
causal mechanisms, which can be obstructed in observational data.
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Readings: Readings will be provided as the course unfolds.
3. Grading
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Course participation –10%. Logged by me. You need to be active.
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Presentations – 40% - We assign students to dates and topics towards the end of
March after the de-registration period is over (14/03/2022).
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Final exam – 50% - is on June 28th.
4. Presentation
Each student will hold a presentation of a designated paper. You should be able to do this
as long as you understand the introduction and the conclusion of the paper very well.
Presenting key contents outside of these two sections will give you bonus points.
4.1. Goals of the presentation
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Learn how to read and process a paper.
1
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Presentation training.
4.2. Format
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25—30 minutes + 10 minutes discussion.
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With slides (ppt or LaTeX).
4.3. Evaluation
In total max. 30 points.
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10 points for presenting between 25-30 minutes.
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10 points for the content (see below).
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5 bonus points for presenting substantial content outside of the introduction
and the conclusion.
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5 points for the delivery of the presentation (slides, speaking, etc.).
4.4. Content of the presentation
These items should be fleshed out in your presentation.
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The research question
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Why is this question important in your and in the authors’ words?
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The methods: empirical or experimental? Lab or field?
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Elaborate on the research method
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What contributions does this paper make? What did we learn from this paper?
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Are there any policy implications? If so, what are they?
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Related literature: What other papers are out there that are related to the
paper?
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Your evaluation of the paper or ideas inspired by the paper.
2
5. Course outline and tentative schedule – May change!
Week #
1
Date
1-Mar
Day
Time
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
Place
HS 12
Content
Introduction. Housekeeping. What are BE and EE?
2
7-Mar
8-Mar
Monday 9.45-11.15
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
HS 5
HS 12
Value, utility, and reference-dependence 1. Theory
Applications
14-Mar
Monday 9.45-11.15
HS 5
Risk (probability weighting)
15-Mar
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
HS 12
Applications
4
21-Mar
22-Mar
Monday 9.45-11.15
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
HS 5
HS 12
CANCELLED
5
28-Mar
29-Mar
Monday 9.45-11.15
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
HS 5
HS 12
Intertemporal choice
Students' presentations
6
4-Apr
5-Apr
Monday 9.45-11.15
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
HS 5
HS 17
Intertemporal choice applications
Students' presentations
3
Notes
Deregistration deadline
14/03/2022.
EASTER BREAK
7
25-Apr
26-Apr
Monday 9.45-11.15
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
HS 5
HS 7
Affect and taste prediction
Students' presentations
8
2-May
3-May
Monday 9.45-11.15
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
HS 5
HS 7
Mental accounting
Students' presentations
3
9
9-May
10May
10
16May
17May
11
23May
24May
12
30May
31May
Monday 9.45-11.15
HS 5
Constructed preferences
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
HS 10
Students' presentations
Monday 9.45-11.15
HS 17
Incentives
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
HS 10
Students' presentations
Monday 9.45-11.15
HS 17
Attention.
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
HS 10
Students' presentations
Monday 9.45-11.15
HS 17
Biased beliefs
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
HS 10
Students' presentations
JUNE 6 and 7 HOLIDAYS
13
13-Jun
14-Jun
Monday 9.45-11.15
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
HS 17
HS 10
Social preferences
Students' presentations
14
20-Jun
Monday 9.45-11.15
HS 17
CANCELLED
15
27-Jun
28-Jun
Monday 9.45-11.15
Tuesday 11.30 - 13.00
HS 17
HS 10
Review. Question and Answers
FINAL EXAM
4