Teaching

I believe we learn best through experience, especially in economics. Over the years, I have experimented with different learning pedagogies in the principles-level course and in an elective on applied behavioural economics.

I have largely moved away from fully written assignments, as they have become somewhat redundant in the era of GPTs. After experimenting last year, I plan to integrate AI into assignments this year. More on this once it is rolled out.

Some of the assignment types are listed below. In addition, economic debates are included in every course whenever time permits.

PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS

EconSelfie

For several years now students have been enjoying the “Econ Selfie” assignment which helps them connect microeconomic theories with everyday life. By analyzing photos of daily life situation that they click, they learn to view the world through an economist’s lens. I use student selfies throughout the course to explain different economic conceptions and market structure. This reflection deepens as they reassess their insights from selfies over the course duration. As an instructor, I find that the analytics of selfies are very useful to

A popular economics blog Marginal Revolution linked the coverage of the assignment by fellow economist, Ashish Kulkarni.

Consumer Confidence Survey

Students learn to carry out a consumer confidence and inflation expectations survey to understand consumers’ expectations about the current and future state of the economy, incomes, prices, job situation. Each student surveys 15-20 individuals, and we then aggregate the surveys by each student at the section level (60 to 80 students) to provide a large enough sample to draw insights.

Video assignment - Market structure & Firm level analysis

This multi-part assignment requires industry research, market structure evaluation, and competitive analysis of rivalry between two firms, along with an oral or video presentation involving the entire student group. The video format facilitates the development of communication skills alongside the application of economic concepts.

A key feature of the assignment is the interviews that students conduct with consumers and producers in the chosen industry to understand how they perceive the industry’s current state and how they make decisions related to product purchase or sale, pricing, and other factors.

The analysis is presented as a video documentary, with all group members appearing on camera and narrating different portions of the presentation. Each student contributes by explaining a part of the analysis verbally in the video submission.

APPLIED BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS

The Decision Diary

Students note down two of their decisions each day for 10 days. After the first 5 days, they review these decisions and the factors that may have influenced them (rational, behavioural, or a combination). At the end of the 10 days, they record a video of up to 5 minutes evaluating their experience, including the influence of System 1 vs. System 2 in their decision-making, the role of habits and emotions, identification of biases, influence of others, and levels of patience or impatience. Students then find it easier to relate to the psychological and social influences on human behaviour.

Conducting an experiment

Students conduct a 2×2 experiment examining the effects of classical economic incentives and behavioural nudges. One factor is a traditional incentive, such as a subsidy or tax on a particular good. The other factor involves implementing a behavioural nudge intervention. Alternatively, both factors may test different nudge techniques.

The assignment is structured in multiple steps, with feedback incorporated at each stage. This iterative process ensures that students refine and improve their experimental design based on the input received before proceeding further. In the final stage, students conduct statistical analysis to test the effectiveness of nudges. They either present their findings in class or record a video explaining the outcomes.

Students choose a wide variety of topics that I would not have thought of as an instructor. For example, many students use dating platforms. One group tested whether signals related to the quality of education (the name of a higher education institution, as a proxy for potential income) and personality (affectionate behaviour signalled through a photo with a pet) influence the time spent exploring profiles on dating platforms. Guess what they found!

Redesigning a website

Students redesign an existing company or NGO website by incorporating behavioural nudges. This hands-on approach helps behavioural economics principles stick. It allows students to take theoretical nudge concepts and apply them by redesigning existing websites and user experiences. Iterating on existing sites, rather than starting from scratch, reflects how nudges are often deployed incrementally.