About this course: We make thousands of decisions every day. Do I cross the road now, or wait for the oncoming truck to pass? Should I eat fries or a salad for lunch? How much should I tip the cab driver? We usually make these decisions with almost no thought, using what psychologists call “heuristics” – rules of thumb that enable us to navigate our lives. Without these mental shortcuts, we would be paralyzed by the multitude of daily choices. But in certain circumstances, these shortcuts lead to predictable errors – predictable, that is, if we know what to watch out for. Did you know, for example, that we are naturally biased towards selling investments that are doing well for us, but holding on to those that are doing poorly? Or that we often select sub-optimal insurance payment plans, and routinely purchase insurance that we don’t even need? And why do so many of us fail to enroll in our employer’s corporate retirement plans, even when the employer offers to match our contributions? Behavioral finance is the study of these and dozens of other financial decision-making errors that can be avoided, if we are familiar with the biases that cause them. In this course, we examine these predictable errors, and discover where we are most susceptible to them. This course is intended to guide participants towards better financial choices. Learn how to improve your spending, saving, and investing decisions for the future.
Who is this class for: This course is intended for anyone who has taken at least one course in economics either in high school or in college, and is interested in how our innate biases affect our financial decision-making.
Taught by: Emma Rasiel, Associate Chair and Professor
Economics
| Language | English, Subtitles: Portuguese (Brazilian) |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
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Nice Course!!!
Great Class!
I was exposed to the topics for the first time. Hence, this is a beginner's feedback.
I would have liked the course to be structured in the following manner - Week 1 - theoretical input; Week 2 - Introduction to all biases; Week 3 - Practical examples of specific biases exhibited in real life situations
Some of the biases in Quizzes are not part of the curriculum - does it mean they are false responses or the course did not cover them?
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The mass of information is a little hectic. Would appreciate more explanations and also more questions as to what will most likely happen instead of why exactly smth has happened. Especially in the final tasks.