Economics and Psychology, Spring 2004

• Author: Gabaix, Xavier
• Subject: Social Sciences
• Institution Name: M.I.T.
• Collection: MIT OpenCourseWare
• Grade Level: Post-secondary

• Abstract: Integrates psychological insights into economic models of behavior. Discusses the limitations of standard economic models and surveys the ways in which psychological experiments have been used to learn about preferences, cognition, and behavior. Topics include trust, vengence, fairness, impatience, impulsivity, bounded rationality, learning, reinforcement, classical conditioning, loss-aversion, over-confidence, self-serving biases, cognitive dissonance, altruism, subjective well-being, and hedonic adaptation. Economic concepts such as equilibrium, rational choice, utility maximization, Bayesian beliefs, game theory, and behavior under uncertainty are discussed in light of these phenomena.

• Course Type: Full Course
• Languages: English
• Material Types: Homework and Assignments, Lecture Notes, Syllabi
• Media Formats: Text/HTML, Downloadable docs

• Conditions of Use: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0