2019 Summer School on Economic Behaviours: Models, Measurements, and Policies

Deadline: 31 March 2019
Open to: PhD students, young scholars, and master students
Costs:  The fees amount to Euros 240 and include: accommodation (with breakfast) for five nights at Villa del Grumello or in a hotel in Como, drinks, dinners and all other social activities

The summer school is intended to foster reflection on economic models of rational as well as bounded or irrational decision, focusing on their explanatory power as well as normative/policy implications. The status and interpretation of the parameters and variables of these models will also be a key issue: Are psychologistic interpretations of preferences and beliefs, for example, justified by experimental data? Or have traditional instrumentalist and behaviourist interpretations been unchallenged by the emergence of behavioural and experimental economics?

Some of these questions raise more general methodological issues of measurement. What is the implicit epistemology and what is the implicit ontology of the statistical methods that are used to estimate and test behavioural models? Are the econometric models to be interpreted realistically, or are they mere predictive tools? In the latter case, is it legitimate to infer policy advice from these models? Why should we, for example, care about people’s “preferences” if these parameters do not match any psychological construct? Can an axiomatic approach, such as the one used in measurement theory where parameters and variables are defined by axioms, solve this conundrum?

The summer school will tackle these questions as they arise, in particular, in decision theory, experimental economics, and behavioural economics, and will pay particular attention to the implications that the answers may have for normative issues in welfare economics, distributive justice, and behavioural policy-making.

PhD students, young scholars (PhD degree obtained after January 2018), and brilliant master students.

Up to 23 participants.

The fees amount to Euros 240 and include: accommodation (with breakfast) for five nights at Villa del Grumello or in a hotel in Como, drinks, dinners and all other social activities

PhD students, young scholars, and master students who wish to attend the school should submit an extended abstract proposal in English of 750 to 1,000 words, or a full-paper proposal of up to 7,500 words.

Abstract or full-papers should be sent, together with a CV, and a letter of recommendation from a supervisor, to francesco.guala@unimi.it or ivan.moscati@uninsubria.it.

The DEADLINE for submissions is MARCH 31, 2019.
Decisions about applications will be communicated by April 15, 2019.