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Behaviour Economics and Strategic Conduct (MASTER)

Goals

This course connects the fields of psychology, economics, and game theory to present transformation in explaining the behavior of economic agents from the assumption of perfect rationality towards observed patterns of economic behavior and decisions that are not based on such strict assumptions.

The goal of the course is for students to learn about the differences between conventional economic understanding of agents’ decision-making and how the latter actually decide. The course will present knowledge and skills to observe, analyze and understand decision-making process of economic agents given the environments where the respective decisions are taken.

At the end of the course, students will:
- recognize ideas, concepts, theories, and findings from the respective subfields of study
- be able to apply these ideas and findings when solving real-life problems (e.g., questions of public policy, ethics, problems in consumer choice, marketing, finance, management)
- be able to provide a sound and informed opinion on fundamental issues in economic decision making (e.g., freedom to choose, rationality, self-interest, altruism, fairness, preference developments)

Syllabus

1. Foundations
1.1 Values, Preferences and Choices
1.2 Beliefs, Heuristics and Biases
1.3 Mental Accounting

2. Decision Making and Uncertainty
2.1 Bracketing Decisions
2.2 Representativeness and Availability
2.3 Confirmation and Overconfidence
2.4 Decisions under Risk and Uncertainty
2.5 Prospect Theory

3. Intertemporal Choice

4. Strategic Interaction
4.1 Behavioral Game Theory
4.2 Social Preferences

Contacts

Tanja Istenič

Office hours

Wednesday at 12:00

room R-305

Consultations are available by appointment via e-mail. Consultations are available in person in R-305 or via the Zoom platform at the link: https://uni-lj-si.zoom.us/j/91344958357

Business portrait of Tanja Istenič in the library of the School of Economics and Business in October 2024, with a round window and shelves full of books in the background