ECON30019 Behavioural Economics Semester 2, 2022
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ECON30019
Behavioural Economics
SUBJECT GUIDE
Semester 2, 2022
Subject Overview
This subject introduces students to empirical research demonstrating economically important patterns of behaviour that violate standard rationality assumptions, and to theoretical research aimed at capturing these behavioural patterns in tractable models. Most of the semester will be devoted to behavioural aspects of individual decision making, such as temptation and present-biased preferences, prospect theory, reference-dependent preferences, and over-confidence. We will also cover happiness research and behavioural public economics. This subject can be profitably taken alongside ECON30022, which in addition to the design of experiments also covers behavioural aspects of strategic interaction. Intended Learning Outcomes |
This course is intended to • explain behavioural patterns uncovered in behavioural economics and how they relate to standard economics assumptions, • explain formal models developed by behavioural economists to tractably capture such findings, • evaluate the contribution of behavioural economics to economic knowledge. Eligibility and Requirements |
To view the eligibility and requirements, including prerequisites, corequisites, recommended background knowledge and core participation requirements for this subject, please see the University Handbook: https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/2022/subjects/econ30019/eligibility-and-requirements Academic Staff Contact Details |
Subject Coordinator:
Consultation Hours:
Dr. Siqi Pan
(from Week 2) Schedule on LMS
Tutors:
Consultation Hours:
Anthony van den Berg, Dean Hoi, Gloria Chen, Jillian Huiwen
Zha, Jonathan Lim, Liam Horrocks, Louisa Borland
(from Week 3) Schedule on LMS
During the semester (before 18 November 2022), please always use the subject email for any type of inquiries regarding the subject. Inquiries directed to the personal email accounts of Dr. Pan or tutors will not be answered in time or in detail.
After the semester (after 18 November 2022), feel free to contact Dr. Pan at siqi.pan@unimelb.edu.au if your email to the subject email is not answered in time.
Email Protocol
Please note that we are only able to respond to student emails coming from a University email address. Please do not use personal email addresses such as Yahoo, Hotmail or even business email addresses. Emails from non-University email addresses may be filtered by the University’s spam filter, which means that we may not receive your email. All correspondence relating to this subject will only be sent to your University email address. Note that you must first activate your University email address before you can send or receive emails at that address. You can activate your email account at this link: http://accounts.unimelb.edu.au/.
While academic staff endeavor to address queries received via email, it is more appropriate to resolve substantive questions during lectures and tutorials and/or during normal consultation hours. With this in mind, we encourage students to attend all lectures and tutorials and to familiarise themselves with the consultation hours offered by the lecturers and tutors in this subject.
Lectures
Teaching Period:
Time:
Venue:
Topics
25 July 2022 to 21 October 2022
Tuesday 9:00 to 11:00
PAR-The Spot-B01 (Copland Theatre)
Live-streamed and Recorded
(Subject to Change)
1. Introduction
2. Preferences and Choices
3. Beliefs and Probability Judgement
4. Choice under Risk and Uncertainty
5. Intertemporal Choice
6. Public Policy and Nudge
7. Strategic Interaction and Social Preferences
Lecture Slides
Lecture slides will be placed on the LMS page for this subject prior to each lecture.
Recorded Lectures
Audio and video recordings of lectures delivered in this subject will be made available for review. These recordings allow you to revise lectures during the semester, or to review them in preparation for the end of semester exam.
You can access recorded lectures by clicking on the Lecture Recordings (or similar) menu item on the LMS page for this subject.
Please note that for live classes, recordings are not a substitute for attendance; rather they are designed for revision. On rare occasions the recordings can fail to take place due to technical reasons. In such cases, a substitute recording will be made available.
Tutorials
Time and Venue
Tutorials commence in Week 2 (August 1-5, 2022).
Detailed schedule on LMS.
Participation Requirements
Tutorial questions will be placed on the LMS page for this subject prior to each class. Please attempt the questions before coming to class.
Private Tutoring Services
The Faculty has become increasingly concerned about the existence of a number of private tutoring services operating in Melbourne that heavily target University of Melbourne students enrolled in FBE subjects.
Students are urged to show caution and exercise their judgement if they are considering using any of these services, and to please take note of the following:
Any claim by any of these businesses that they have a “special” or “collaborative” or “partnership” style relationship with the University or Faculty is false and misleading.
Any claim by a private tutoring service that they are in possession of, or can supply you with, forthcoming University exam or assignment questions or “insider” or “exclusive” information is also false and misleading.
The University has no relationship whatsoever with any of these services and takes these claims very seriously as they threaten to damage the University’s reputation and undermine its independence.
It is also not appropriate for students to provide course materials (including University curricula, reading materials, exam and assignment questions and answers) to operators of these businesses for the purposes of allowing them to conduct commercial tutoring activities. Doing so may amount to misconduct and will be taken seriously. Those materials contain intellectual property owned or controlled by the University.
We encourage you to bring to the attention of Faculty staff any behaviour or activity that is not aligned with University expectations or policy as outlined above.
Assessment
Assessment Overview
Your assessment for this subject comprises the following:
Assessment Task |
Individual or Group |
Due |
Weighting |
Assignment 1 |
Individual |
15 Aug 2022 |
7% |
Assignment 2 |
Individual |
29 Aug 2022 |
7% |
Assignment 3 |
Individual |
12 Sep 2022 |
7% |
Assignment 4 |
Individual |
3 Oct 2022 |
7% |
Assignment 5 |
Individual |
17 Oct 2022 |
7% |
3-hour end-of-semester exam Hurdle requirement: To pass this subject, students must pass the end of semester examination |
Individual |
During the exam period |
65% |
Assessment Details
Typing requirement for all assessment tasks:
• For all assignments and the exam, you are required to type all your answers (including equations).
• If you want to include a graph, you can draw it using software or insert a hand- drawn picture.
• You can use the Equation Typing Aid provided on LMS.
Assignments:
• Assignments are due at 11:59 pm on Monday in weeks 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12.
• Questions will be posted at least a week before the due date.
• Solutions will be covered in lecture and published on LMS on the Tuesday following the due date.
Examination:
• Duration: 30-minute reading time + 3-hour writing time
• Format: open-book online exam with strict time limit
Assignment Submission
Please note that you are required to keep a copy of your assignment after it has been submitted as you must be able to produce a copy of your assignment at the request of teaching staff at any time after the submission due date.
Penalties for Late Submission
In order to ensure equality for all students, assignments must be submitted by specified deadlines. Late submissions will not be accepted. Failure to submit an assignment on time will result in a zero mark on that assignment. Students with a genuine and acceptable reason for not completing an assignment (or other assessment task), such as illness, can apply for special consideration (see Policies below).
Subject Resources
No textbook is required for this course. However, I will be loosely following this book:
• Angner, Erik. A course in behavioral economics. (Any edition) Macmillan Education Palgrave.
Academic Integrity
Academic Honesty
The University maintains high academic standards in its courses and subjects and expects students to conduct themselves in a manner which is fair, honest and consistent with the principles of academic integrity, particularly when undertaking assessment and research.
http://academicintegrity.unimelb.edu.au/
Referencing
Each source used for a written piece of assessment must be referenced. This is to acknowledge that your material is not based entirely on your own ideas, but is based, in part, on the ideas, information, and evidence of others. This is desirable as you are attending University in order to learn from others.
You will be required to use the APA system or Harvard System of referencing. The library has prepared a website to help students correctly reference:
http://www.library.unimelb.edu.au/recite
It is important that all material you present for assessment is referenced correctly. Material that has not been referenced correctly may be considered to be plagiarised, and as such may be penalised. We will also look for evidence that material included in the bibliography has been used in the assignment.
The Academic Skills Unit has produced resources to assist students with referencing
https://services.unimelb.edu.au/academicskills/undergrads/top_resources The Library also provides advice on referencing:http://library.unimelb.edu.au/cite
University Services
Timetable
MyTimetable is a class timetabling system that creates individual timetables for students based on submitted class preferences, ensuring everyone has an equitable opportunity of getting their preferred class timetable. You will use this system to create your class timetable prior to each study period.
By following a preference-based model, students who have other commitments, such as employment or carer responsibilities, or who are returning or living overseas during the timetabling period, aren’t disadvantaged by their limited availability. When allocating class timetables, MyTimetable also takes into consideration factors such as class size limits and potential clashes to ensure all students are equally accommodated. Further information is available on the web athttps://students.unimelb.edu.au/admin/class-timetable
Stop 1: Connecting Students and Services
Stop 1 is here to provide you with a range of support services throughout your university degree, from help with enrolment, administration and wellbeing to advice on building your skills and experiences.https://students.unimelb.edu.au/stop1
Academic Skills
Academic Skills offers a range of workshops and resources to help you with study skills including researching, writing and referencing, presentation skills and preparing for exams. Visit their website viahttp://services.unimelb.edu.au/academicskills.
2022-08-24