Economic Analysis Seminar III - UCL

Enseignants

Johnen Johannes;

Langue
d'enseignement

Anglais

Thèmes abordés

Le titulaire propose une question à traiter par les étudiants (par exemple, le plan Marshall wallon est-il efficace?). Les étudiants
- commencent par identifier les éléments théoriques qui permettent de traiter la question. Ils identifient ainsi la logique économique qui guide la question;
- identifient ensuite les méthodes empiriques (statistiques ou autres) qui permettraient de répondre à la question posée;
- collectent les données pertinentes à l'analyse empirique;
- exécutent  l'analyse empirique;
- interprètent les résultats et expliquent les problèmes et limites statistiques sous-jacents.

Acquis
d'apprentissage

A la fin de cette unité d’enseignement, l’étudiant est capable de :
1	A la fin de l'activité, les étudiants seront capables de - faire preuve d'abstraction conceptuelle, synthétiser les éléments essentiels à la compréhension du problème,  - collecter, sélectionner et analyser les données et informations pertinentes selon des méthodes rigoureuses, avancées et appropriées, - exprimer un message de façon claire et structurée, tant par oral que par écrit, - gérer son travail : définir ses priorités, anticiper et planifier l'ensemble des activités de son travail dans le temps, faire preuve de rigueur et de structuration dans son travail, - travailler en équipe.

La contribution de cette UE au développement et à la maîtrise des compétences et acquis du (des) programme(s) est accessible à la fin de cette fiche, dans la partie « Programmes/formations proposant cette unité d’enseignement (UE) ».

Contenu

The language of the Seminar is English.
Since the publication of the book "Nudge" by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler, these nudges received a lot of attention from policy- and decision makers. They are widely applied by authorities all over the world, and make their way into the corporate culture in many countries. Nudges are attempts to influence decisions of individuals not by classic economic incentives (e.g. subsidizes for retirement saving, taxes on unhealthy products such as alcohol and cigarettes, discounts to attract consumers) or bans. Instead, nudges try to push people in a direction without changing their choices. For example, reporting calories in a restaurant menu can induce people to eat less fat food, changing default rules on retirement-savings decisions can induce people to save more, or reporting your exercising to friends can help people to do more sports. Similarly, telling households how much more energy they consume than their neighbors can significantly reduce their energy consumption and help fight climate change.

This seminar introduces the behavioral-economic concepts behind nudges, and introduces a powerful empirical tool that becomes increasingly relevant for policy evaluation - randomized control trials. These RCTs are frequently used to evaluate policies in general, but nudges in particular.

Méthodes d'enseignement

At the beginning of the class, the teacher will teach the basic concepts. Afterwards, students will present a research paper on Nudges.  Students can choose which paper to present from a list supplied by the teacher. The papers are on a wide range of policy issues such as Retirement Savings, Health Policy, Education, Development Policy, Environmental Policy, and many more. Active discussions of students during these presentations is strongly encouraged.

Modes d'évaluation
des acquis des étudiants

The final grade consists of three parts:

• Participation in Discussions in Class (20%)
• Presentation of a Research paper (40%)
• Write a Policy Proposal on a Nudge (40%).
  • Work in small groups.
  • Think of a policy problem of your choice and how a nudge could solve it.
  • Also outline how you would use a randomised control trial to evaluatethe success of the policy.
  • Write approximately 5-6 pages.

Autres infos

The language of the Seminar is English

Ressources
en ligne

Available on Moodle: https://moodleucl.uclouvain.be/

Bibliographie

A complete reading list will be made available at the beginning of the class. Here is some introductory material.

• Sunstein – Nudging: A Very Short Guide. Journal of Consumer Policy. 583(2014).

• Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. (Very good introduction into the topic. Highly entertaining!)
• Halpern, D. (2016). Inside the Nudge Unit: How small changes can make a big difference. Random House.
• Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan. (for more details on cognitive biases)
• Angrist, Joshua D., and Jörn-Steffen Pischke. Mostly harmless econometrics: An empiricist's companion. Princeton university press, 2008.

Faculté ou entité
en charge

ECON