About

Berkeley’s philosophy is that behavioral economics enriches rather than contradicts standard economic thought. When the tools of psychology and other sciences are joined with the proven analytical methods of economics, the results are more powerful and scholars get closer to underlying truths about human behavior.

At Berkeley, behavioral research is interwoven into the research of academics across departments and schools. Our mission is to serve as the center of gravity supporting researchers, graduate students and industry partners interested in understanding and applying non-standard economic thinking in their fields of interests.

BEAM Conference – UC Berkeley to Celebrate 30th Anniversary of Behavioral Economics

In 1987, a cross-disciplinary course at the University of California, Berkeley marked a milestone for a new field of study. Two professors, an economist and a psychologist, joined forces to teach a PhD class that used the analytical tools of social and cognitive psychology to investigate economic problems. Their teaching was a foundation for what is now known as behavioral economics. This line of study has reshaped the way scholars explain how people make choices, not only as consumers, investors, and employees, but also as voters, patients, students, and in many other areas of life. The two professors, George Akerlof and Daniel Kahneman, went on to win Nobel prizes. And Berkeley became a standard-bearer in this flourishing field, which emerged as a revolutionizing force in economics.

The O’Donnell Center for Behavioral Economics carries on this proud tradition and ensures that Berkeley remains a center of excellence in this field by supporting research, teaching, and graduate student training that meet the highest standards of scholarship, relevance, and innovation. The center promotes Berkeley’s particular brand of behavioral economics on a global stage, an approach that combines rigorous economic analysis with insights drawn from psychology and across the sciences.