Module Code:

PS927

Module Name:

Neuroeconomics

Module Credits (CATS):

15

Module Convener

Elliot Ludvig

Module Teachers

Elliot Ludvig

Module Aims

The module will introduce students to the key theories and major findings in neuroeconomics. Core questions that will be addressed include: What are the neural substrates of subjective values, delay discounting, and risk aversion? How does the brain learn from rewarding experience? Can neuroscientific discoveries inform economic theory? How can neuroeconomic ideas be used and applied in the real world? Students will learn the requisite background and directly engage the primary literature.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Cogently discuss the relationships between psychology, neuroscience, and economics
• Engage and critically evaluate the primary literature on neuroeconomics
• Generate new experimental ideas to test theories of the neural basis of decision making
• Identify potential zones of real-world application for neuroeconomic advances and discoveries

Assessed by:

• Essay, thought questions, group presentation
• Essay, thought questions, group presentation, and class tests
• Essay, thought questions, and group presentation
• Essay, thought questions, group presentation, and class tests

Module Work Load

Module Length

10 weeks

Lectures

10 lectures of 2 hours each

Seminars

8 seminars of 1 hour each

Attendance

Attendance at lectures and seminars is compulsory

Module Assessment

Assessed work:

Essay - 4000 words

Weekly thought questions – based on weekly lecture topics

Group presentation – based on thought questions

Weighting:

45%

5%

10%

Exams:

2 Class Tests – medium-length and long answers

Weighting:

40%

Module Programme

Topics covered on the course will likely include:

• Introduction to the Brain
• The Brain
• Values
• Making Choices
• Risk & Ambiguity
• Timing & Discounting
• Multiple Decision-Making Systems
• Memories and Choice
• Social & Moral Neuroscience
• Applying Neuroeconomics

Module Reading List

Glimcher, P. & Fehr, E. (2013). Neuroeconomics: Decision Making and the Brain (2nd edition). Academic Press: London.

Sutton, R. & Barto, A. (1998/2014). Reinforcement Learning. (2nd edition). MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.

Redish, A. D. (2013). The Mind within the Brain: How We Make Decision and How Those Decisions Go Wrong. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

Kahneman, D. (2012). Thinking Fast and Slow. Farrar, Strauss, Giroux: New York.

Dayan, P. & Abbott, L. E. (2005). Theoretical Neuroscience. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.

Glimcher, P. (2004). Decisions, Uncertainty, and the Brain: The Science of Neuroeconomics. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.

Greene, J. (2014). Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason and the Gap Between Us and Them. Atlantic Books: London.