PUBPOL 321: Decision-making, Behavior, and Policy Design

This course provides a foundation in the application of microeconomic theory, psychology, behavioral economics, judgment and decision-making, and game theory to study public policy problems. Students learn how cognition, heuristics, biases, emotion, and social dynamics interact in decision-making, and how context and framing shape decisions. Students learn how decision-making influences the effect of public policies on the equity and efficiency of the production and distribution of goods and resources. Topics may include choice architecture, decision making under uncertainty and risk, and implications for taxes and transfers, regulation, externalities, public goods, and social welfare. Core theoretical principles are applied to current policy debates.