Spring 2014, Econ 219B

This course is the continuation of the 219A class in Psychology and Economics – Theory, taught by Matthew Rabin. As in 219A, we will keep emphasizing the psychological evidence as the basis for sound economic analysis. We will also insist on the importance of neoclassical theory as a successful benchmark that you are required to know. Finally, several topics of this course are designed to be the empirical counterpart of the theory covered in 219A.

There are two main differences between 219A and 219B. First, this class has largely an empirical orientation, as opposed to the theoretical orientation of 219B. I will present empirical papers drawn from a variety of fields: asset pricing, corporate finance, consumption, development economics, environmental economics, health economics, industrial organization, labor economics, political economy, and public economics. As such, the class is also meant for applied students that do not intend to make Psychology and Economics one of their main fields, but want to apply some of the behavioral ideas to their field of interest.

The second main feature of the course will be its emphasis on dissertation writing. Throughout the course I will do my best to point out what seem to me like good directions for empirical research. In addition, as an incentive to get you started, one of the requirements of the course is a paper on an applied topic using field data.

The 219B course also covers a set of 11 Methodological Topics, including some of the how-to-do list for empirical behavioral research. These include (i) practical topics such as approval from Human Subjects and how to run field experiments, (ii) conceptual issues such as the difference between lab and field experiments and mis-application of present-bias models; and (iii) econometric issues such as clustering of standard errors. These topics are integrated with the other research topics.