This course focuses on the human element of the economic system. We examine a wide range of behavioural science theories from neo-classical economics, psychology, behavioural economics, sociology, and complexity economics to better understand how humans behave and make decisions that impact the economy, the environment, and society. The course focuses on the wide range of cases where people might make decisions that are inconsistent with standard economic theory and the assumptions of rational decision making. These cases include “irrational” patterns of thinking about money and investments, how expectations shape perception, economic and psychological analyses of dishonesty by honest people, how social and financial incentives work together (or against each other) in labour, and the role of self‐control and emotions (rather than cognition) in decision making. The course presents an interdisciplinary perspective on how to understand, research and change human behaviour.

• know selected socio-economic theories of human behaviour;
• explain the different approaches to understanding and knowledge generation that underlie the different behavioural sciences;
• explain the different ontological and epistemological assumptions in different bodies of behavioural research and as used by different disciplinary experts;
• critically interrogate empirical evidence on human behaviour generated by use of different methods;
• apply insights about human behaviour for the design of public poli

Any absence from class should be notified to the course tutor in advance, regardless of whether the class takes place in onlince or presence mode. In line with the WU's course attendance requirements, you cannot miss more than 6 hrs of class (equivalent of two class sessions) over the entire semester.  This allowance is for serious unforeseen circumstances and should not be used simply for taking time-off, job interviews, working, planned into holidays or similar. 

For your optimal learning experience your course instructors employ the inverted classroom teaching method (“blended learning”). Therefore, your weekly 3-hours sessions will be split into two parts. For the first half (thematic input) your course instructors will provide you with recorded lectures prior to the in-class session. To prepare yourself for class you need to watch the recorded lecture as well as read the respective course literature. The second half of the lecture takes place in class in small groups to work in a problem-based mode. In this part, you will apply and discuss your readings and insights from recorded lectures.

Exams (60%): Four exams (15% each) Each exam lasts half an hour. You are asked to answer 3 out of 4 questions.

Individual Essay (40%)

• Free choice of topic
• Build on course materials & critically reflect them
• Word limit: roughly 6 000 words
• Submission deadline: 2 July 2024. This is a strict deadline. Submissions within 24 hours after the deadline will be accepted with a mark-down of 25% of points. Thereafter, we will not accept any late submissions. No exceptions. All submissions have to be uploaded at Learn@WU.

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Time spent on this course:

8 ECTS = 200 hours of work (60 minutes each)

We designed the elements of this course with the following effort in mind.