Economics Lab

Course summary

Taught in a non-technical way, the course will provide students with a sound knowledge of economics and an ability to apply the key principles of economics to every day events. The course will begin by exploring the fundamental economic question: we live in a world with scarce resources, including money, time, effort, raw materials, goods and services. However, we have unlimited wants. Therefore, we consider how these scarce resources are allocated and, in doing so, we will explore the importance of choice. Thinking like an economist will give students the tools needed to understand the decisions made by individuals, firms and governments, and to answer questions that we ask ourselves on a daily basis. The course will ground on empirical observations of behaviour from the lab and from the world, and explore the reasons why people often behave in ways that are clearly not in their best interest. We will pay special attention to the role of cognitive biases, cooperation, fairness, procrastination, and innovativeness to explain decision outcomes and performance.

Learning Objectives: Through class discussion, case studies, readings and active participation in experiments, students will develop a basic understanding of how economic decisions are taken.

Course Material: Readings, slides and cases will be provided via e-learning platform.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites. The course will be highly interactive and we expect students to develop their own ability to elaborate alternative solutions to life’s problems by examining many contemporary issues through the lens of an economic way of thinking.

Assessment Methods: Friendly qualitative feedback will be given based on the individual class participation and final presentations by small groups.