Faculty First Year Seminars 197RE1 - Nudge: Behavioral Economics fo

This course will be a discussion-based and cover some of the implications of behavioral economics for individual decision making and public policy. The topics will follow along with the book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein (2008, Yale University Press). I intend to cover the all of the sections on decision-making (Chapters 1-5, which include: Biases and Blunders, Resisting Temptation, Following the Herd, When do we need a Nudge), some of the sections on money (Chapters 6-8: Save more tomorrow, Naive investing, and credit markets), and health (Chapters 11-12: How to increase organ donations, saving the planet), and the sections on extensions and objections (Chaptrs 16-18: a dozen nudges, objections, and the third real way). This will allow the students to read one chapter a week and come in for a discussion of the material. Additionally, it will expose them to a number of the behavioral biases and `economic errors? in decision making and teach them how to avoid these pitfalls

Freshmen Only