Bringing psychology and pluralism into the teaching of welfare economics Online publication date: Sat, 05-Jul-2014
by Peter E. Earl
International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education (IJPEE), Vol. 5, No. 1, 2014
Abstract: This paper surveys lessons from psychology and behavioural economics that could readily be incorporated into the economics classroom to provide a pluralistic approach to teaching welfare economics and enhance the ability of economics graduates to make contributions to policy analysis. It focuses particularly on challenges that arise for consumers in today's fast-changing world due to their finite attentive capacities and their need to make sense of incoming stimuli by constructing their own subjective models. Rather than presenting a one-size-fits-all view of choice, the paper examines how the consumer's hard-wired inheritance and social inputs result in choices being made in different ways in different contexts. Consumers use creative thinking and experimentation to develop a sense of identity and what they should consume. The paper considers how this, and inherited basic needs, may limit willingness to make substitutions as market incentives change.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education (IJPEE):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com