Boot Camp 2025 – Behavioral Public Economics

About the 2025 Boot Camp

The Behavioral Public Economics Boot Camp is a PhD-level event designed to equip graduate students with a deep understanding of behavioral approaches to public economics. It draws connections across subfields like health, labor, household finance, development, and energy.

The 2025 Boot Camp will be held at Stanford University, August 21–23, 2025. This year’s organizers are Doug Bernheim (Stanford), Ben Lockwood (Wharton, University of Pennsylvania), and Dmitry Taubinsky (UC Berkeley), with generous support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Pension Research Council.

The program will feature lectures by the organizers and invited talks from leading scholars, including Matt Gentzkow, Botond Koszegi, Olivia Mitchell, and Matt Notowidigdo. The keynote address will be delivered by Dave Guarino.

Agenda (Draft)

Thursday, August 21 – Foundations

9:00–9:30 Welcome, Overview, and Introductions (Bernheim, Lockwood, Taubinsky)

9:30–11:00 Behavioral Welfare Analysis (Bernheim)

11:00–11:30 Break

11:30–12:30 Optimal Taxation with Behavioral Biases (Lockwood)

12:30–1:30 Lunch

1:30–2:30 Sin Taxes (Lockwood)

2:30–3:00 Break

3:00–4:00 Tax Salience (Taubinsky)

4:00–4:30 Break

4:30–5:30 Non-Price Interventions and Nudges (Taubinsky)

5:30–6:00 Break

6:00–6:30 Reception

6:30 Dinner, w/ talk by external speaker Dave Guarino

Friday, August 22 – Applications

9:00–10:15 External presenter 1: Botond Kőszegi

10:15–10:30 Break

10:30–11:45 External presenter 2: Matthew Notowidigdo

11:45–1:00 Lunch

1:00–2:15 External presenter 3: Olivia Mitchell

2:15–2:40 Break

2:40–6:00 Student-faculty meetings (Bernheim, Lockwood, Taubinsky, external presenters)

6:00–6:30 Reception

6:30 Dinner

Saturday, August 23 – Applications

9:00–10:00 Identifying Mistakes (Bernheim)

10:00–10:15 Break

10:15–11:45 External presenter 4: Matthew Gentzkow

11:45–2:00 Lunch, research idea discussions, networking