Curriculum Behavioral Economics
Behavioral Economics
Why people don't act like the rational calculators economic models assume - and what that means in practice.
- Why People Make Irrational Decisions Why real decision-making rarely matches the perfectly rational model classic economics assumes. 📄 Read-aloud
- Cognitive Biases A closer look at systematic thinking patterns that quietly distort financial decisions. 📄 Read-aloud
- Nudges How small changes in how a choice is presented can shape decisions - without restricting anyone's options. 📄 Read-aloud
- Behavioral Economics: Checkpoint 1 Covers why people make irrational decisions, cognitive biases, and nudges. 5 questions
- Incentives Why incentives shape behavior more reliably than most other tools, and why they sometimes backfire. 📄 Read-aloud
- Loss Aversion Why losing something hurts more than gaining the equivalent amount feels good - and what that asymmetry does to decisions. 📄 Read-aloud
- Present Bias Why immediate rewards feel so much more compelling than future ones, even when the future reward is objectively better. 📄 Read-aloud
- Behavioral Economics: Checkpoint 2 Covers incentives, loss aversion, and present bias. 5 questions
- Anchoring How an irrelevant first number can quietly shape a decision - and how to recognize when it's happening to you. 📄 Read-aloud
- Mental Accounting Why people treat money differently depending on where it came from, even though a dollar is a dollar no matter its source. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Endowment Effect Why people value something more highly simply because they already own it - and what that means for everyday buying and selling decisions. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Sunk Cost Fallacy Why past spending that can't be recovered shouldn't factor into a decision going forward - and why it so reliably does anyway. 📄 Read-aloud
- Social Proof and Herd Behavior in Economic Decisions Why watching what everyone else is doing so often substitutes for actually evaluating a decision on its own merits. 📄 Read-aloud
- Overconfidence Bias and Financial Decisions Why most people rate their own financial judgment as better than average - and what that quietly costs them. 📄 Read-aloud
- Framing Effects: How Choices Are Presented Changes Decisions Why the same information can lead to different decisions depending on whether it's presented as a gain or a loss. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Default Effect and Choice Architecture Why the pre-selected option in any choice tends to win, and how the design of choices shapes decisions. 📄 Read-aloud
- Confirmation Bias in Economic Decision-Making Why people tend to seek out information that confirms what they already believe about money and markets. 📄 Read-aloud
- Scarcity Mindset: How Financial Stress Changes Thinking How the experience of not having enough money can itself narrow attention and lead to costly decisions. 📄 Read-aloud
- Choice Overload: When More Options Make Things Worse Why having too many options can lead people to delay decisions or choose badly, the famous jam study, and how choices can be simplified. 📄 Read-aloud
- Commitment Devices: Tying Your Own Hands How people use commitments to stick to their goals despite temptation, from savings accounts with locks to public pledges. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Planning Fallacy Why people and governments consistently underestimate how long projects will take and how much they will cost, and how to plan more realistically. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Availability Heuristic Why vivid, recent or memorable events seem more likely than they are, and how this shapes insurance buying, investing and fears. 📄 Read-aloud