Behavioural Economics Advanced Economic Policy and Theory

This book offers a course in behavioural economics at the upper undergraduate and graduate level. Behavioural economics has quickly become popular, both within economics and among policy makers. This book reflects an open-minded approach towards economics, open to insights from other disciplines and new ways of data collection and analysis. It helps economists to build more realistic models of decision making and policy makers to more successfully implement policy. It gives an overview of recent developments in behavioural economics stressing throughout how behavioural economics can be applied in important policy decisions with a special focus on health policy, as well as examples from finance, insurance, and environmental policy and climate change. 

The book pays particular attention to current open questions, thereby developing students’ critical faculties. It gives students tools and insights to understand the current literature, to perform behavioural economics analyses, and to offer well-founded policy advice.

The Art of Behavioral Economics.- A short history of utility.- Utility in behavioral economics.- The methods of behavioral economics part 1: Experiments, field studies, and international comparisons.- The methods of behavioral economics part 2: Neuroeconomics, genoeconomics, and new statistics.- Reference-dependence, loss aversion, and endowment effect.- Probability judgment.- Bayesian updating.- Decision under risk.- Ambiguity.- Time preference.- Behavioral economics and policy.

Han Bleichrodt is a full professor at the University of Alicante, Spain. He has published extensively on decision under uncertainty and intertemporal choice with special applications to health in a range of journals. He has taught many courses in behavioural and health economics at the PhD, Master, and undergraduate levels throughout the world.