(286)BRINGING REALITY INTO THE CLASSROOM: GIVING A TASTE OF BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS IN A PUBLIC ECONOMICS COURSE

摘要

This article aims to present a brief outline of an introduction to Behavioral Public Economics taught asa part of an annual course in Public Economics to undergraduate Law students who have previouslyfollowed an introductory course in Economics. The main objective is to present the implications forsocial and economic policy of going beyond the standard model that assumes self-interest and perfectrationality. Particularly, the explanations are articulated around three different sub-topics: (1)Therelevance of reciprocity and social norms; (2)Bounded rationality: saving and pensions; (3)Selfcontrol,stimuli and public policy: an application to the drugs issue. Each of these pieces is illustratedwith examples brought from recent scientific literature, trying to provide more accessible references tostudents as well. In addition, in order to foster reflection on these issues among students, they had tocomment on a brief article on social norms, where students were also requested to provide a real lifeexample where social incentives operate. An ad hoc survey carried out by the teacher reveals thatstudents were moderately interested in the lectures delivered.