Classes at Yale

MGT 810: Behavioral Economics and Strategy. 2 units.
Behavioral economics looks to neighboring sciences such as psychology, biology, and neuroscience for insights into how human behavior systematically deviates from rationality. Carrying these insight one step further, behavioral economists seeks to understand both the ways these biases respond to incentives, and how they affect aggregate behavior in games, organizations, and markets. This course will begin with a survey of the behavioral-economic view of psychology, which can roughly be characterized by three "bounds" on human behavior: bounded willpower, bounded foresight, and bounded selfishness. Here, we will emphasize in equal parts the experimental lab evidence collected by psychologists, and economic studies of biases as manifest in real-world behavior. Then we will conclude by attempting to apply behavioral insights to strategy and industrial organization. That is, we will look at what new insights behavioral economics brings to the study of both the firm's internal structure, and the firm's relationship with consumers, financial markets, and other firms. Fall Term

MGT 520: Economic Analysis. 4 units.
This course concentrates on the role of markets in determining the opportunities facing individuals and business firms, and explores the use of economic principles in decisions made by organizations in the economy. Topics include analysis of competitive markets and noncompetitive markets, firm behavior and competitive strategy, and problems of microeconomic policy design affecting all sectors. The course is intended to be at a level accessible to students with little or no prior exposure to economics, but covers material that is more managerial in nature than traditional economics courses. Fall term.

MGT 826: Negotiating Strategy. 2 units.
Negotiations are everywhere we deal with others. In settings as diverse as brokering a joint venture, buying a house or car, or choosing what movie to see, compromise and mutual agreement are often a must. The goal of this course is to improve your skills as a negotiator by learning a conceptual framework for analyzing and shaping negotiation processes and outcomes.
Towards this, this course will bring to bear tools from game theory, behavioral economics, and social psychology. Lectures and course work will build on a foundation of formal analysis with equal parts negotiations exercises, psychology readings, and demonstrations. Several cases will also be explored (some led by Barry Nalebuff) which will integrate these tools and provide the opportunity to negotiate with classmates in a simulated environment.
Students will leave with an understanding of two complementary sets of topics. First will be formal tools and strategies, including understanding goals and incentives, structuring competition and alliances, and the making and breaking of coalitions. Equally important will be key behavioral and psychological phenomena such as perceptual anchoring, motivated overconfidence, and personal and cultural perceptions of fairness. Fall term.