In neoclassical economics, the government’s role is typically framed around providing public goods, correcting externalities, and addressing information failures. However, many real-world policies—such as taxes on cigarettes or subsidies for retirement savings—are motivated by concerns that individuals may not always act in their own best interest.
Traditional policy evaluation relies on revealed preference assumptions, under which paternalistic interventions reduce welfare. But behavioral economics offers substantial evidence that people sometimes make systematic mistakes. Behavioral public economics extends the tools of public economics to account for these deviations, offering new approaches to welfare analysis and policy design.
This mini-course provides an introduction to Behavioral Public Economics for PhD students in economics. It builds on content created by Dmitry Taubinsky and Hunt Allcott and is designed for self-study or integration into graduate-level teaching.
This mini-course addresses key questions such as:
Some of these slides originated in or were inspired by lectures originally created by Stefano DellaVigna, Alex Rees-Jones, Frank Schilbach, and others. We thank our colleagues for inspiration and for sharing lecture materials.