Seminar: Behavioral Economics of Education - Details

General information

Course name	Seminar: Behavioral Economics of Education
Semester	WiSe 2025/26
Current number of participants	7
expected number of participants	12
Home institute	VWL, insb. Monetäre Makroökonomik
participating institutes	Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung
Courses type	Seminar in category Offizielle Lehrveranstaltungen
Next date	Friday, 16.01.2026 10:00 - 18:00, Room: (SR 3 (IWH))
Lehrsprache(n)	Englisch
ECTS points	5

Lecturers

• Prof.Dr. Simon Wiederhold
• Johanna Raith

Rooms and times

Raum 222 (Raum 57) [WiWi]

Tuesday: 16:15 - 17:45, weekly (14x)

(SR 3 (IWH))

Friday, 16.01.2026 10:00 - 18:00

Fields of study

• Juristische und Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät > Wirtschaftswissenschaftlicher Bereich - School of Economics and Business > Master
• Lectures and Courses in English (International Studies) > Faculty of Law, Economics and Business

Module assignments

• Geographie/Erdkunde Intern. Area StudiesMA120, Version of accreditation (SS 2019 - SoSe 2024) > Wirtschaftswissenschaften > WIW.06781.01 - Seminar in Economics, valid from SS 2020 > Course 1: Seminar (Vortrag und Teilnahme am Seminar)
• Volkswirtschaftslehre Eur.u.int.Wirtsch.MA120, Version of accreditation valid from WS 2020/21 > 2.2.1. Wirtschaftswissenschaften > WIW.06781.01 - Seminar in Economics, valid from SS 2020 > Course 1: Seminar (Vortrag und Teilnahme am Seminar)
• Geographie/Erdkunde IntArStudGlobChaGeoMA120, Version of accreditation (SS 2021 - SoSe 2025) > Economics > WIW.06781.01 - Seminar in Economics, valid from SS 2020 > Course 1: Seminar (Vortrag und Teilnahme am Seminar)
• Volkswirtschaftslehre Eur.u.int.Wirtsch.MA120, Version of accreditation valid from WS 2020/21 > 1.1.1. Wirtschaftswissenschaften > WIW.06781.01 - Seminar in Economics, valid from SS 2020 > Course 1: Seminar (Vortrag und Teilnahme am Seminar)

Comment/Description

Economic models commonly assume that people are rational. A rational person maximizes “utility”, which can be thought of as satisfaction or happiness. The rational decision-maker is purely guided by self-interest and does not make systematic mistakes. However, in recent years there is a growing ac-ceptance by economists that the actual behavior of persons often fundamentally deviates from what a purely rational person would do – a fact that psychologists have long been aware of.

Behavioral economics integrates insights from psychology into economic contexts to explain and pre-dict human behavior. This master seminar provides a broad overview of behavioral economics and spe-cifically discusses research in the field of the economics of education. Why is this an interesting field to study? One the one hand, there is plenty of scientific evidence that better education leads to higher individual prosperity, as better educated people earn higher wages, are healthier, commit less crimes, and make better decisions for their children. On the other hand, educational investments are clearly long-term – pupils have to exert effort today to get some elusive benefit in 10 or 20 years. A 6-year-old does not go to school because she wants a better life in the future. She must be persuaded that school is fun now, or given no better option. In this sense, educational investment decisions may even be more distorted than investments made at older ages, because education is something people mainly invest in early in life, when they may be more likely to fall prey to cognitive biases.

In the seminar, students will discuss the design of field and lab experiments in more depth and write a seminar paper in which they summarize, critically assess, and potentially extend existing research. Through their participation in the seminar, students will understand which research questions are well-suited to be studied experimentally and how to conduct an experiment in economics.
Please also consult the seminar organization and the guidelines for writing a seminar paper, both of which are available under “Files/Important Documents” on Stud.IP.