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Beyond AS Exams - Behavioural Economics
8th June 2008
Now that the AS economics exams are safely out of the way, the focus of our work in the next two weeks will be on investigating aspects of behavioural economics.
This short post-AS exam course studies behavioural economics - a field that specialises in studying how our emotions and biases effect our day to day decisions. The main aim of the course is to introduce you to aspects of behavioural economics and to consider the limitations of orthodox economic assumptions.
“Economic Man makes logical, rational, self-interested decisions that weigh costs against benefits and maximize value and profit to him. Economic Man is an intelligent, analytic, selfish creature who has perfect self-regulation in pursuit of his future goals and is unswayed by bodily states and feelings. And Economic Man is a marvellously convenient pawn for building academic theories. But Economic Man has one fatal flaw: he does not exist.”
Source: Harvard magazine (2006) - a brilliant article on the subject.
I will upload supporting PowerPoint presentations and written assignments in the next couple of days
Initial student handout on behavioural economics
Behavioural_Economics_Post_AS(2).doc
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.