The economic comprehensions of human behavior. How to influence the human choice? Should you learn painting if you want to be a painter? can «buba» change economics for the better?

Aleksandr Shimakov
Candidate of Economics (PhD), Associate Professor, Novosibirsk State Technical University, Novosibirsk, Russia

TERRA ECONOMICUS, 2015, Vol. 13 (no. 4),

p. 96-131
DOI: 10.18522/2073-6606-2015-4-96-131

J. Meynstring began one of his speeches (Oklahoma, 1929) with the outstanding words: «Do you think that economics is a dismal science? You just haven’t learnt chemistry!» To continue the great Californian economist’s traditions, I introduce you a course of popular science lectures of economics, which I have given in Novosibirsk in last ten years. The fourth lecture is devoted to the consideration of economic view about human behavior. The lecture is an attempt of synthesis of neoclassic, institutional, behavioral and neuro-economics achievements. You will learn how our brain makes decisions. You will understand if it is reasonably to rely on intuition. You will get a view about the methods of economic behavior manipulation. You will recognize the secret of “the beautiful”. You will understand why it is profitable to sell tires with a car and an apartment with furniture. You will know why we appreciate what we have, and why the membership card to the swimming pool makes us swim during the cold. You will know how to reduce wages invisibly and how to divert somebody’s attention from high prices. You will understand why we inclined to put it off to tomorrow, to lose all our money in casino and to take unfavorable loans. Finally you will realize if we make our decision by ourselves or someone makes it for us.

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Keywords: economic behavior; economic choice; neoclassical economics; institutional economics; behavioral economics; neuroeconomics; diffusion model; subjective value; subjective probability; popular science lecture

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Publisher: Southern Federal University
Founder: Southern Federal University
ISSN: 2073-6606