The Psychology and Economics of Information

This class is open to master’s and Ph.D. students. Students will be exposed to classic issues and current frontiers in the study of how information should be valued, when people acquire information, and how they process such information. We will begin with a unit covering a theoretical framework for how information should affect beliefs and actions. Then we will cover a unit exploring the psychological principles that promote or dissuade people from optimal responses to information. Then we will close with a unit surveying field evidence on how these principles affect decision-makers in markets and ways to reduce the problems therein.