Behavioral Economics For Dummies

Morris Altman, PhD, is a professor of behavioral economics at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and a professor of economics at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. He is on the board of the Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics and is a former president of that organization. He also edited the Handbook of Contemporary Behavioral Economics.

• Introduction 1Part I: Introducing Behavioral Economics: The Science of Making Real-World Choices 7Chapter 1: Decoding Behavioral Economics 9Chapter 2: Getting Real about Assumptions 19Chapter 3: Neuroeconomics: Exploring the Brain for Economic Analysis 41Chapter 4: Why Incentives and Markets Matter, but Money Isn't Everything 65Part II: Understanding Choice 89Chapter 5: Exploring the Limits to Free Choice 91Chapter 6: Quick and Simple Heuristics and Real-World Decision Making 107Chapter 7: How the Framing of Choices Affects Decision Making 131Chapter 8: How Norms, Peers, History, and Culture Influence Choice 153Chapter 9: Why Gender, Children, and Age Matter for Economic Analysis 167Part III: Growing the Economic Pie: The Economic Importance of Ethics, Well-Being, and Culture 181Chapter 10: Why Smart People Pay Taxes, Recycle, and Even Break the Law 183Chapter 11: Labor Supply in the Real World 197Chapter 12: The Black Box of the Firm: Human Relationships and Productivity 215Chapter 13: The Good Economy: How Ethical Behavior Can Grow the Economy 229Chapter 14: Why Institutions Matter 243Part IV: When Bubbles and Busts and Inefficiencies Are Possible: Some Behavioral Insights into the Strange World of Economic Reality 257Chapter 15: Deciphering Behavioral Finance 259Chapter 16: Looking into Recessions and Depressions 275Chapter 17: The Art and Science of Happiness: Can You Be Happy without More Money? 291Part V: The Part of Tens 309Chapter 18: Ten (Or So) Key Public Policy Implications of Behavioral Economics 311Chapter 19: Ten (Or So) Experiments in Behavioral Economics 321Chapter 20: Ten Decision-Making Lessons from Behavioral Economics 333Index 341