RUBEN associates teach a number of courses through the University of Cape Town’s School of Economics that relate to behavioural and experimental economics.
Undergraduate Courses
Cooperation and competition (ECO2007S)
This is an introductory course in game theory, the framework for analysing strategic interaction. Game theory is (among other things), the basic technology for understanding most phenomena in microeconomics and some phenomena in macroeconomics, along with many processes in political science, law, evolutionary biology, and the science of animal behaviour (ethology). In this
Postgraduate Courses
Experiments in economics (ECO4029S)
This course is an introduction to the methodology of experimental economics and its application to specific topics such as decision making under risk and over time, the provision of public goods, and bargaining. We primarily focus on laboratory experiments but we also cover field
Views in institutional and behavioural economics (ECO5064S)
Neoclassical economics assumes that individuals are fully rational and
A host of anomalies to subjective expected utility theory have been uncovered by experimental economics, experimental psychology, and other empirical studies. The first major objective of this course (sections 2 and 3) is to expose students to a critical reading of this literature.
The assumption that economic outcomes can be explained solely in terms of individuals with utility functions interacting in anonymous markets has been challenged on many grounds. Markets do not function without a supportive structure of institutions – defined property rights, contract enforcement mechanisms, and sufficient levels of trust. The second major area of focus of the course (sections 4 and 5) will be on the behavioural foundations that underpin these institutions.
The third and final objective of the course is to understand the interplay between psychology and poverty. Many of the conditions that worsen decision-making might actually be caused by poverty. If the poor have to live day to day, trying to make ends meet, this in itself, is taxing and a preoccupation with these concerns leaves fewer mental resources for other decisions or concerns. In this final section of the
Microeconomics II (ECO6007F)
In this course, we focus on three key areas that are typically under-emphasised in standard Walrasian economics, namely uncertainty, asymmetric information, and strategic interactions. Topics covered