PhD Course
Behavioral economics of beliefs and misperceptions — field experiments, registers, and surveys
September - November 2024
Description
The course will focus on the study of beliefs, perceptions, and information, and how these factors influence economic behavior. There will be a specific emphasis on methods that combine experiments, register data, and survey data.
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The course includes both online lectures and two in-person sessions in Helsinki and Lund. The first in-person (hybrid) lectures will take place in Helsinki (Finland) on September 9, right after the ESA 2024 European Meeting (https://www.economicscience.org/) and the final in-person (hybrid) session will consist of one day in Lund (Sweden) on November 21, right before a workshop of Copenhagen Network of Experimental Economists workshop. Participants are requested to attend at least one of these in-person events (and follow the other one online or in-person).
Between the two in-person events, there is a series of online lectures with a focus on methods and practical skills. They will cover i) how to utilize and measure perceptions, beliefs and information in empirical research; ii) integration of experimental, survey and registry data; iii) open science practices including pre-registration.
The examination will consist of one smaller method-related assignment and a final assignment which will ask participants to design a poster with a research idea on a topic relating to the course materials and methods.
The course is 5 ECTS.
General Overview
Participants: PhD students of Helsinki GSE, Lund University, other Nordic universities and ESA community outside Nordics (upon request).
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How to register: Please send a motivation letter and CV to behavioralcourse@nek.lu.se
by August 8th. Also indicate whether you will attend in-person the event in Helsinki and/or event in Lund.
Practical details: for students of Helsinki GSE, FDPE and Lund, the course is free of charge. For students from other universities a fee of 150 euros applies; registered participants of ESA Europe 2024 in Helsinki are exempt from fees.
Each student must pay own travel and accommodation (to/in Helsinki and/or Lund). Travel support available upon open-ended application for FDPE students. Please, send applications by email to Topi Miettinen.
Part 1: Helsinki
September 9, 2024
Kickoff day with two lectures on September 9th. These sessions take place one day after the ESA 2024 European Meeting in Helsinki, September 6th – 8th.
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Leonardo Bursztyn: “Norms and perceptions in economics”
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Ingvild Almås: "TBA"
Part 2: Online
September - November
We will have several lectures, mostly with a method focus, as follows:
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Adeline Delavande: "Measuring Subjective Beliefs" (September 16)
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Felix Holzmeister: Open science practices (September 30)
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Luigi Butera: "Understanding what drives beliefs using surveys and administrative data" (October 14)
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Jon de Quidt: "Measuring and Bounding Experimenter Demand Effects" (October 28)
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Pol Campos-Mercade: "Integrating experiments with register data" (November 4)
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Ingar Haaland: "Qualitative data in economics"
Part 3: Lund
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Lecture: Alexia Delfino
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Student poster presentations with brief plenary pitches
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This part is held in Lund on November 21st a day before the Copenhagen Network of Experimental Economics (CNEE) meeting on November 22nd.
Assessment
​There will be three assignments:
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Power calculation assignment
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Ideas/pitching workshop with peer review (online)
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Poster and poster presentation
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Organizers: Topi Miettinen, Roel van Veldhuizen & Erik Wengström.
Organizing institutions: Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki GSE & Lund University.