Behavioural Economics

What is the nature of ethical 'blind spots' in companies and governance? How do organisations and individuals make economic decisions? What techniques can be used to nudge people's behaviour during a pandemic? These are just a few of stories and questions covered by our Behavioural Economics section at Amsterdam School of Economics.

Behavioural Ethics: why do or don’t we behave ethically?

We make decisions all day long. Some decisions are minor, like whether you should buy an apple or a chocolate bar. While other decisions are major, like whether you should opt in or out of organ donation. Why do we ...

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Empirical microeconomics: unravelling causality within microeconomics

To what extent does a higher income for parents mean that their children will also have a higher income in later life? And how does additional school funding affect the performance of children? Professor Monique de ...

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Economics student wins KHMW thesis award

UvA EB PhD student Xu Lin was awarded the 2022 Jan Brouwer thesis award in Economics. The prize was presented by the Royal Holland Society for the Sciences (KHMW) during a livestream event on Friday 11 February.

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Can R&D cost transparency make anti-cancer drugs affordable?

Lowering the price of anti-cancer drugs without reducing investments in research and development (R&D)? It’s possible if governments and pharmaceutical companies are completely transparent about their pricing ...

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Evolution as the origin of hypotheses about human behaviour

Why do people exhibit social behaviour and what explains the evolution of such behaviour? It is a subject that has occupied Matthijs van Veelen for many years now. In his area of research, there is an important role ...

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Through the lens of microeconomics, everything looks like economics

Dr Giorgia Romagnoli studies the role of replacement logic and the sharp erosion of moral values caused by markets. 'Replacement logic is about shifting responsibility.'

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Why do we make the decisions we make?

In the fields of economics and business, decision-making is key. How do consumers choose which item to buy? How do people in financial markets decide that a given stock will go up or down?

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Yeewah Chong wins Covid Behavioural Challenge

Third-year student Yeewah Chong recently won the Covid Behavioural Challenge. The competition looked for the best ideas to deal with behavioural problems related to the COVID-19 measures in the Netherlands.

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