'Sex, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll' - Microeconomics of Human Behaviour

B.Sc. seminars

Course prerequisites

Basic microeconomics, introductory statistics, ability to read in English Official requirements

Basic microeconomics, introductory statistics, ability to read in English

Introductory guidelines

Basic microeconomics, introductory statistics, ability to read in English

Bachelor's Thesis Seminar "'Sex, drugs & Rock'N'Roll' - microeconomics of human behaviour" is directed to 3rd year students, who would like to write a thesis devoted to the analysis of economic literature from the 'economics imperialism' current. 'Economics imperialism' is an application of the toolbox of economic science to studying important socio-economic phenomena, which traditionally belonged to the research fields of other social sciences such as psychology, sociology, political sciences and others. These phenomena include addiction, crime, marriage and divorce, pornography, prostitution, contraception, gambling, assisted reproduction, suicide, religion, abortion, obesity, terrorism, and others.

Bachelor's Thesis is supposed to be a critical review of the economic literature on a given topic, which is to answer the question whether economics has contributed to the progress in understanding these traditionally non-economic phenomena.

A partial list of possible topics for the Thesis is given below. The student can choose also other topics provided that the proposal is workable. We will work individually contacting in person and by e-mail and collectively as well - the student will be required to give a short presentation of his/her results to the group.

Bachelor's Thesis should be a critical review of literature on a given subject providing an original synthesis or criticism of existing studies. In particular, it may try to answer the question if economics research on a given problem has contributed anything 'new' to the scientific literature - has our understanding of the problem been enriched by the 'economics imperialism' literature?

A provisional list of topics for Bachelor's Thesis:

1. Addictions

Theories of addictive behaviour, price elasticity of demand for illegal drugs, welfare economics of drug prohibition

2. Drug prohibition and drug liberalization

Economic and social consequences of drug prohibition, methods of drug market liberalization: monopoly, regulations, sin taxes, free market.

3. Crime

Supply of crimes, demand for crime prevention, allocation of criminal justice resources, why crime fell so radically in the US in 1990s?

4. Marriage and divorce

Marriage vs. cohabitation, economic gains from marriage, transitions into and out of marriage, government policy interventions and divorce laws

5. Pornography

Porn as an industry, demand for porn, regulation of porn, the Internet and porn, porn as an 'economic good'.

6. Prostitution

Economic theories of prostitution, economic consequences of prostitution, explaining wages of prostitutes, various methods of legalization of prostitution market.

7. Suicides

Economic models of suicide, economic costs of suicide, the impact of celebrities suicides on total costs of suicides. Prevention of suicides.

8. Religion

Demand for religion. Religion as a public good. Preventing free-riding in religious practices. Risk and uncertainty related to God's existence. Competition among religions. Government regulation of religions.

9. Assisted reproduction

Demand for and supply of children. Economic analysis of donors behaviour. Ethics for assisted reproduction markets.

10. Abortion

Demand and supply for abortion services. Abortion and teenage pregnancy, propensity for pre-martial sexual relations and crime rates. Regulating abortion markets.

11. Gambling

Why people gamble, legalization of gambling, regulation and deregulation of gambling.

12. Terroryzm

Why people become terrorists? Are terrorists rational? Economic analysis of anti-terrorist policy.

13. Obesity

Why obesity is rising in the Western world? Should we counteract rising obesity? Economic policy toward lowering obesity - regulation, taxes, and other interventions

Simon W. Bowmaker (2006) (ed.), Economics Uncut: A Complete Guide to Life, Death and Misadventure, Edward Elgar Publishing.

Papers from economic journals related to the chosen topic.

Expertize:

Student has knowledge about the economic imperialism phenomenon.

Student understands the interrelationships between economics and other social sciences.

Student has knowledge about main nontraditional applications of economic methods to analysis of problems traditionally belonging to other disciplines.

Student understands main methods of microeconomic model-building and methods of empirical verification of models.

Skills:

Student is able to analyze scientific microeconomic texts, published in English.

Student is able to prepare an review essay or to conduct own simple empirical study verifying existing models.

Student is able to state research hypothesis, aims for the research, find relevant literature and data, collect and interpret information.

Student has the ability to construct and complete a research study.

Competences:

Student finds relevant scientific information and is able to state research hypothesis. Student is able to cooperate in the seminar group. Student is able to prepare good oral presentation of her/his work and discuss it in the seminar.

KW01, KW02, KW03, KW04, KU01, KU02, KU03, KU04, KU05, KU06, KU07, KK01, KK02, KK03

Students are evaluated on the basis of their performance during the seminar and the quality of the Bachelor's thesis.