Seminar: Topics in Economic Behavior and Strategy (Master)

Master of Science in Quantitative Decision Making in Economics and Management,
Specialization Economic Behaviour & Strategy

6 ECTS

Instructor: Florian Hett, Julian Detemple, Markus Eyting | coordination of the course: Florian Hett

First session: Tuesday, 12 November 2024, 10.00 h, HS VII

In this seminar, we want to get closer to the actual research frontier in economic behavior and strategy. Students will be introduced to the main research areas of the chair and get the opportunity to develop and carry out a related project. The concrete format is very flexible and may range from literature reviews to the analysis of existing or the collection of primary data.

To pass the seminar, students need to be present at all meetings, hand in a seminar paper of up to ten pages, and give a final presentation.

Topics

“Behavioral Measurement”: The use of incentivized economic experiments to measure individual  references  nd beliefs. Here the “Behavioral Measurement Toolbox” (BMT) (https://bmt-01.zdv.uni-mainz.de/) may be used. Applications looking at naturally occurring (big) data are also possible.

“Social Identity”: What is the economic relevance of how people perceive themselves through their membership in social groups? Applications include political polarization, identity as a choice, and/or identity and belief formation.

“(Behavioral) Household Finance”: Why do people make bad financial choices? What are the underlying mechanisms? What are ways to mitigate them?

“Economics of Discrimination”: How and why do people discriminate and what are the con-sequences of discriminatory behavior?

“Sustainable Finance”: What is the economics of “green investing”? What are the motives and mental models underlying it