Behavioral Economics of Education: Progress and Possibilities

Adam Lavecchia, Heidi Liu and Philip Oreopoulos

No 20609, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Behavioral economics attempts to integrate insights from psychology, neuroscience, and sociology in order to better predict individual outcomes and develop more effective policy. While the field has been successfully applied to many areas, education has, so far, received less attention - a surprising oversight, given the field's key interest in long-run decision-making and the propensity of youth to make poor long-run decisions. In this chapter, we review the emerging literature on the behavioral economics of education. We first develop a general framework for thinking about why youth and their parents might not always take full advantage of education opportunities. We then discuss how these behavioral barriers may be preventing some students from improving their long-run welfare. We evaluate the recent but rapidly growing efforts to develop policies that mitigate these barriers, many of which have been examined in experimental settings. Finally, we discuss future prospects for research in this emerging field.

JEL-codes: D03 D87 I2 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-evo, nep-exp, nep-lma and nep-pke
Note: CH ED LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (60)

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Working Paper: Behavioral Economics of Education: Progress and Possibilities (2015)
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