Mini-workshop on Social Preferences

Sam Bowles will visit our department on 2-3 February. As part of his visit he will offer two classes to post-graduate students and interested staff. The topic is broadly on Social Preferences and Optimal Contracts. These are specialised topics in microecnomics. Knowledge of microeconomic analysis at the level of our Honours microeconomics course is required in order to gain the most out of the lectures. However, since this material can be understood at varying levels of sophistication, students who have not (yet) taken the Honours microeconomics course are also encouraged to attend, as are staff members who have an interest in these topics. Attendance is compulsory for Masters students, but optional for Honours students. Particpation by non-Stellenbosch students and staff is by invitation. Please send an email to Malcolm Keswell (keswell@sun.ac.za) if you are interested in attending but are not affiliated with Stellenbosch University.

There will be a cocktail function for participants of the workshop at Moor's End Farm. Directions can be found here.

Class Material

Problems to work on before class.

Note: Honours students who took Economics 318 in 2008 should be comfortable answering questions 1-9. Masters students who took Introduction to Microecnomic Analysis in 2008 should be comfortable answering all but question 15.

Class 1: Monday, 2 February, 14.00-16.00 (Social Preferences),

Venue: Schumann Building, Lecture Theatre 107

• "Policies Designed for Self-Interested Citizens May Undermine 'The Moral Sentiments': Evidence from Economic Experiments," Science, 320, 1605 (2008)
• Chapter 3 from Microeconomics: Behavior, Instititutions and Evolution

Class 2: Tuesday, 3 February, 08.30-10.30 (Mechanism Design with Social Preferences)

Venue: Schumann Building, Lecture Theatre 107

• "Social preferences and public economics: Mechanism design when social preferences depend on incentives," Journal of Public Economics, 92, 1811–1820.
• Chapter 14 from Microeconomics: Behavior, Instititutions and Evolution

Recommeded Additional Reading on Preferences (download bibliography here)

• Decision Theory: Kreps (1990a), Luce and Raiffa (1957).
• Behavioral Economics: Camerer (2003), Fehr and Fischbacher (2001b) and (2003).
• Prospect Theory: Kahneman and Tversky (2000)
• Bounded Rationality: Rubinstein (1998).
• Learning: Fudenberg and Levine (1998)
• Ultimatum Game: Guth, Schmittberger, and Schwarz (1982), Forsythe, Horowitz, Savin, and Sefton (1994), Camerer and Thaler (1995), and Roth (1995).