Behavioral Economics

Anchoring: Understanding the Cognitive Bias in Decision-Making
Anchoring is a cognitive bias that describes the common human tendency to rely heavily on the first piece of information (the “anchor”) encountered when making decisions.
Anomalies: Economic Choices Defying Standard Theory
Anomalies are economic choices that cannot be explained by standard choice theory based on the axioms of preference. The identification of anomalies has led to the development of behavioural economics and the rejection of expected utility theory.
Cognitive Bias: Systematic Patterns of Deviation from Norm or Rationality in Judgment
Cognitive Bias refers to systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment where individuals create their subjective reality from their perception of the input.
Compulsive Buying: An Irresistible Urge to Purchase
Compulsive Buying is an irresistible urge to buy items, often not related to necessity. This behavior is characterized by an overwhelming desire to purchase and own items, leading to significant financial and emotional consequences.
Consumer Rationality: Understanding Decision Making in Economics
A comprehensive examination of consumer rationality, its axioms, historical context, key events, and implications in various fields such as economics, finance, and psychology.
Dynamic Inconsistency: Understanding the Concept and Its Implications
Dynamic inconsistency is a situation where a decision-maker's optimal plan at one point in time is no longer optimal at a later time. It is crucial in economics, game theory, and behavioral economics, affecting policies and individual decisions alike.
Expectations: Influences on Economic Behavior and Forecasting
Expectations refer to the forecasts or views of economic agents about future values of economic variables. They play a crucial role in economic analysis by influencing the choices and behavior of economic agents, which in turn shape the trajectory of the economy.
Herding Behavior: The Tendency of Investors to Follow and Mimic the Actions of a Larger Group
Herding Behavior in finance describes the tendency of investors to follow and mimic the actions of a larger group, often ignoring their own individual analysis and decision-making processes. This behavior can significantly impact financial markets, leading to price fluctuations and contributing to market bubbles and crashes.
Hyperbolic Discounting: Time Preference and Behavioral Economics
An assumption on the rate of time preference that reflects a bias towards present rewards. Hyperbolic discounting contrasts with exponential discounting where the discount rate between any two periods is constant.
Incentives: Driving Desired Outcomes
Incentives are rewards or penalties designed to influence economic agents' behaviors to achieve specific results. They include pay variations, working conditions adjustments, promotion prospects, and reputation impacts, influencing actual results or managerial perceptions.
Information Inductance: Influence of Required Communication on Behavior
The extent to which a person's behavior is affected by the information they are required to communicate. For example, company directors producing an annual report may emphasize favorable aspects of financial statements, possibly adopting creative accounting.
Interdependent Utility: Assumptions on Individual Preferences
An exploration of interdependent utility, where individual well-being is influenced by the well-being of others, encompassing both positive and negative externalities.
Loss Aversion: Understanding Behavioral Bias in Decision-Making
Loss aversion describes the tendency for people to prefer avoiding losses rather than acquiring equivalent gains. This concept highlights the significant impact of potential losses on human decision-making.
Marginal Propensity to Consume: The Key to Understanding Spending Behavior
The Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC) measures the increase in consumer spending due to an increase in disposable income. Essential for economic analysis and policy formulation.
Pre-Commitment: Foundation for Intent and Planning
An in-depth examination of pre-commitment, a strategic decision-making process that influences behavior by committing to a course of action in advance.
Ratchet Effect: The Sticky Upward Trend
The Ratchet Effect refers to the tendency for a variable to be influenced by its own highest previous value, creating a one-way upward stickiness.
Revealed Preference: Understanding Consumer Choices
Revealed Preference is an economic concept that uses consumers' choices to infer their preferences among different bundles of goods. This entry explores the historical context, types, key events, explanations, mathematical models, charts, importance, examples, and related terms.
Sunk Cost Fallacy: The Result of Misguided Investments
The Sunk Cost Fallacy is the phenomenon whereby decision-makers continue investing in a project due to the amount already invested, despite new evidence suggesting that the cost will not be recovered.
Tastes: Understanding Consumer Preferences
An in-depth exploration of tastes in the context of consumer behavior, highlighting the importance, types, historical context, and implications of different preferences.
Variable-Ratio Schedule: A Reinforcement Strategy
In-depth understanding of Variable-Ratio Schedule; reinforcement occurs based on an average number of responses leading to unpredictable behavior patterns, often illustrated through examples like gambling.
Wealth Effect: Economic Implications of Increasing Wealth
An in-depth exploration of the Wealth Effect and its influence on expenditure and economic behavior. Learn about its historical context, key events, models, and examples.
Expectations: Views of the Future Informing Decisions
An in-depth exploration of expectations, their impact on consumer, investor, business, and government decisions, and their role in financial and economic analyses.
Money Illusion: The Misunderstanding of Purchasing Power
Money Illusion refers to the cognitive bias where individuals mistakenly believe that an increase in their nominal income equates to an increase in their real purchasing power, neglecting the effect of inflation.
Endowment Effect: Understanding the Emotional Bias and Its Implications
An in-depth analysis of the Endowment Effect, an emotional bias where people value owned objects more highly than their market value. Learn about the causes, implications, and examples of this phenomenon.
Halo Effect: Understanding Consumer Bias Through Favorable Experiences
The halo effect is a cognitive bias whereby a consumer's positive perception of a maker's products influences their perceptions of other products by the same maker. This entry explores the overview, history, examples, and implications of the halo effect in consumer behavior.
House Money Effect: Understanding, Examples, and Frequently Asked Questions
The House Money Effect is a behavioral finance phenomenon where investors take on higher risks when trading with profits from previous transactions. Learn the meaning, see examples, and find answers to common questions.
Money Illusion: Theory, Historical Context, and Practical Examples
Explore the economic theory of money illusion, which posits that people tend to assess their wealth and income in nominal terms without accounting for inflation. Delve into its historical background, relevant examples, and implications.
Prospect Theory: Understanding Its Concepts and Real-World Applications
An in-depth exploration of Prospect Theory, including its fundamental principles, how it contrasts with expected utility theory, and practical examples to illustrate its application in decision-making under risk and uncertainty.
Regret Theory: Meaning, Psychological Insights, and Practical Applications
An in-depth exploration of Regret Theory, its psychological underpinnings, real-world applications, historical context, and comparisons with related decision-making theories.

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