Course

Advanced Concepts of Behavioral Economics (Spring 2025)

Jan 10, 2025 - Mar 24, 2025

$750 Enroll

Full course description

This course can be a core course in the Applied Behavioral Economics Certificate Program (this can replact the Experiments class as part of the core curriculum or of course be applied as an elective if you prefer), with a prerequisite of completing Foundations of Behavioral Economics. This course was designed with the business professional in mind. We will be building upon the concepts you learned in Foundations and show how to start combining and really thinking about applying behavioral economics into your work.
Unlike that course which had the name of the concept as the name for the week, in this course we are taking a step back and looking more broadly at application. Your weekly themes might be to think about "context" or "confidence" or "clarity" (in case you're wondering, yes, each week's theme does start with a C). Concepts and biases will be introduced for each theme of the week. We will cover a lot of different concepts throughout our 10 weeks together, and I am here to answer your questions and support you every step of the way.

                                                                                                             

The course instructor is Melina Palmer, founder and CEO of The Brainy Business, which provides behavioral economics consulting to businesses of all sizes from around the world. Her podcast, The Brainy Business, has downloads in over 170 countries. Melina worked in corporate marketing and brand strategy for over a decade before earning her master’s in behavioral economics. She has contributed research to the Association for Consumer Research, Filene Research Institute, and runs the Behavioral Economics & Business column for Inc Magazine. Check out her award-winning books, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You, What Your Employees Need and Can't Tell You, and The Truth About Pricing, on sale now.

Curriculum Outline (subject to change)

In this class, students can expect to learn about behavioral concepts as they apply to these themes: 

·         Curiosity and Context

·         Complexity and Cognitive Loas

·         Concern

·         Counterfactuals

·         Consistency

·         Connection and Control

·         Confidence

·         Choice and Contrast

·         Clarity and Complacency

·         Carrots (in the motivational sense)