Discover why "thinking like an economist" can give you newfound confidence in a range of financial and personal situations. With Thinking like an Economist: A Guide to Rational Decision Making, you'll learn how to identify the varied situations in which economics affects your life&;amp;-and how to wield the tools economists use to help you make the wisest choices in those situations. Award-winning Professor Randall Bartlett's 12 lectures are perhaps the most practical economics course you'll ever take.
Thinking like an Economist: A Guide to Rational Decision Making
Learn how to make smarter economic decisions in your professional and personal life by using the same practical principles and analytical tools employed by top economists.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
HRB72 from
Good Content
Taught clearly with good examples. Helpful tools explained to make better decisions.
Date published: 2024-01-28
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Fastt Ed from
Excellent instructor
Course is very thorough, interesting, and informative. Glad I made the purchase. A good refresher course, for sure.
Date published: 2023-08-28
Rated 5 out of
5
by
JackBurro from
Economist think like a philosopher
I did hear about economics principles sporadically but not at all six at once until I watched Professor Randall Bartlett.
Principle number 1: People respond to incentives- Very much so, the philosopher will call it as a “Stick and carrot approach”
Principle number 2: There is no such thing as a free lunch, this is so true but a large number expects freebies. Any sensible person realizes that there is cost associated with product or service but to expect it to get for nothing will not be practical as someone like society has to foot the bill.
Principle number 3: No thing is just one thing; there are always at least 2 sides to every interaction. In today’s highly globalized world there will be many sides to interaction which means the problems will be getting more complicated and divisive.
Principle number 4: The law of unanticipated influences. This is perfectly Newtonian which means there is cause and effect relationship to any policy.
Principle number 5: The law of unintended consequences
Principle number 6: No one is, and no one ever can be, in complete control.
I would like to add principle #7: Growth will result in a large wealth gap.
This is the unintentional consequence that needs to be addressed by economist, policy makers and lawmakers. I will not go into details but anyone can search Oxfam disturbing report on stark wealth gap.
This is a growing problem and it will exacerbate resentment in perpetuity unless something is done about it by lawmakers of all developed economies. What we are seeing is that this high inequality is resulting in high numbers of global economic migrants.
About professor: calm demeanor, and soothing lecture delivery. I am glad that he did not water down the subject with fluff material.
Suggestion- a documentary on how developed economies can ensure equitable growth for its citizens, stem flow of economic migration, and reduce wealth gap. I know it is easier said than done but still like to know.
Date published: 2023-04-19
Rated 5 out of
5
by
KnowOrganization from
Excellent Framework
I took microeconomics and macroeconomics in college and I took this course just out of curiousity. I'm glad I did.
Professor Bartlett isn't giving a course on national markets or global markets. He is providing a framework for thinking about purchases and investments and, indeed, life.
I actually have found myself using this framework in my daily life already.
The presentation is humorous and engaging.
If you're looking for a way of thinking about daily life and matters this is an excellent course.
Date published: 2022-11-05
Rated 5 out of
5
by
CR12 from
Teaches how to make wise, fact based choices!
This is one of my most favorite Great Courses series. The lecturer is fantastic and the course taught me much! I am so grateful for Great Courses resources. Thank you!
Date published: 2022-07-21
Rated 5 out of
5
by
USC_Alex from
Excellent Series of necessary and Important inform
I recall my USC Business School Professor telling us in 1987 the importance of a "crispy" ($100 bill) and we should learn about money before we graduated.
Date published: 2022-05-21
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Katczinsky from
The Shallowest Review to a Pretty Nice Course
The professor has a really nice voice.
Also, his way of talking is clear, captivating and storytelling-like.
I know that I'm probably sounding really stupid and shallow. But for me, how the professors talk is more important than what they talk about. I usually enjoy the Great Courses in audio format while I am driving, commuting back and forth, or when I'm doing house chores. So when the professor has a rather meek, small voice or not-very-clear way of talking, I can't even hear them right above the city noise or clanking noise of the dishes. I can't enjoy the courses fully when I can't hear them.
Also, I like just listening to attractive voices.
I'm not saying that this course is nothing but a nice voice. Professor Bartlett clearly knows what he is talking about and this course is a good choice for people who wants a short, basic first course about Economics.
The fact that he knows not only what he is talking about but also how to talk about them, is just a sweet bonus. He talks about basic Economics like a storyteller, with his swinging intonations and such. I enjoyed the course a lot.
If anyone who read this review would recommend me other courses by a professor with a really nice&clear voice by a comment, I would appreciate it. The subject doesn't matter. Great courses are light of my life.
Date published: 2022-05-02
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Carlos2 from
What a professor!!!
Professor Bartlett keeps you at the edge of your seat explaining economic terms. He is so good! that his voice hypnotizes, his stories are of everyday life (including a story with a bat), and his explanations are crystal clear. I wish his lectures never end. Thank you Dr. Bartlett for letting us see a bit of your passion at teaching, and exhibiting great skills to make complex terms simple.
Date published: 2022-02-11
Overview
About
Dr. Randall Bartlett is Professor of Economics and Director of the Urban Studies Program at Smith College, where he has taught for 30 years. A graduate of Occidental College, he earned both his master's degree and doctorate from Stanford University and taught at Williams College and the University of Washington before joining the Smith faculty. A highly skilled teacher, Professor Bartlett has twice won all-college teaching awards at Smith and was the 2003 recipient of the college's Distinguished Professor Award. He has served at both the department and college levels as a teaching mentor to junior faculty and has been instrumental in developing a number of important programs at Smith, including founding and directing the Phoebe Reese Lewis Leadership Program and serving as the first director of the Public Policy Program. He also presents each fall a wildly popular financial literacy lecture series that is attended not only by students, faculty, and staff, but also by members of the community of Northampton. The author of numerous articles on economics and public life, Professor Bartlett has also written three books, including his most recent, The Crisis of America's Cities, which explores the problems and prospects of urban America.
Trailer
01: The Economist's Tool Kit-6 Principles
Assemble the intellectual tool kit that will be used throughout the course to help you see the world from an economist's perspective. The first tools in your kit are six principles of human behavior accepted by nearly all economists as fundamental.
30 min
02: The Economist's Tool Kit-3 Core Concepts
Complete your tool kit for economic thinking with three key concepts. Learn what an economist means by rational decision making; how marginal analysis is used to solve complex problems; and how you combine these first two concepts to understand optimization.
30 min
03: The Myth of "True Value"
Put your new tools to work by examining a central conclusion in economic thinking: that rational individual choices can-even though they might not always-produce socially efficient results, where no person can be made better off without harming another....
30 min
04: Incentives and Optimal Choice
How do economists think about the rights and rules that govern human interactions? Using real-life examples and classic problems like the Prisoner's Dilemma, plunge into questions of ownership, trade, and compensation and how ideas like incentives and responsibilities are intimately connected to them.
31 min
05: False Incentives, Real Harm
Two case studies involving tragic fires help you grasp two classic economic situations-the Tragedy of the Commons and the difficulties of providing a public good. Then, apply what you have learned to see how an economist would think about the even larger problem of global climate change.
33 min
06: The Economics of Ignorance
In the first of three lectures examining how economists approach situations where information is incomplete, imperfect, or inaccurate, learn that there can indeed be an optimal level of ignorance. Also, explore some cost-efficient ways to reduce uncertainty.
30 min
07: Playing the Odds-Reason in a Risky World
People can strategically use information-selectively controlling, hiding, or subsidizing it-to influence the decisions of others. Examine concepts like the informational blind date and information asymmetry and see how they can lead to consequences like adverse selection and even the 2008 financial crisis.
32 min
08: The Economics of Information
Safety, like everything, has a cost; at some point, being a little safer costs more than it is worth. By studying how economists evaluate risk, learn how the concept of expected value permits rational decision making in situations with risk, but also brings its own set of dangers.
30 min
09: A Matter of Time-Predicting Future Values
Time can be one of the most important factors in economic thought; when events occur matters. This lecture looks at how economists deal with this critical factor, introducing you to concepts such as nominal versus real value and present versus future value....
31 min
10: Think Again-Evaluating Risk in Purchasing
Apply several of the new tools you've been working with to learn how an economist might confront one complex choice you have likely faced yourself: whether to purchase that extended warranty on an expensive consumer item like a big-screen television.
31 min
11: Behavioral Economics-What Are We Thinking?
Despite the predictive power of conventional economic presumptions about fundamental rationality, behavioral economists are showing that we sometimes do things that indeed seem irrational. Delve into several examples of this and possible means of overcoming these behaviors.
32 min
12: Acting like an Economist
Apply what you've learned by thinking like an economist about three different issues: doing a cost-benefit analysis of crime from a criminal's perspective; altering our own structure of incentives to motivate healthier behaviors; and finding policy solutions to traffic congestion and its resulting pollution.
34 min
