Behavioral Economics, BS

This new collaborative field, behavioral economics, has provided an understanding of how people’s decisions deviate from “optimal” choices and the consequences of such deviations for consumers, managers, firms, and policy. This joint concentration between the Operations, Information, and Decisions Department and the Business Economics and Public Policy Department explores the behavioral aspects of economics and decision making.

This concentration provides students with the opportunity to develop an understanding of (a) the rational actor model, (b) modifications to that model that reflect the psychology of human behavior, and (c) implications of those modifications for decision-makers, markets, and public policy.