By Jahnavi Babbar, Year 12
On the 12th of January, the members of the Economics Society came together to attend an eye-opening presentation regarding behavioural economics given by two year 12 IB Economics students, Claudia Mina and Karim Azhari. The enlightening presentation encapsulated the key concepts of behavioural economics from both the producer and consumer’s stance, with various diverse applications to the students’ routine lives.
Claudia and Karim began unraveling the concept of behavioural economics with a concise definition for the term itself which was “the study of psychology and economics, relating to the economic decision-making processes of individuals and institutions”. Following a brief introduction to the concept, the two year 12s went forth by going through several examples of behavioural economics in our daily lives. Considering social media and its prevalence today, they explained how platforms like Instagram use behavioural economics when they tend to have an easy and straightforward setup process, so as to encourage more new users to set up accounts and existing users to create multiple accounts on their platform. They stated that from the standpoint of the consumer, they simply feel as though a rather complicated process is effortless because of the way it has been presented by the firm. With several other examples like loss aversion, subtle advertising, creator funds, and contact synching, the year 12s engaged the audience and explained the concept of behavioural economics in an effective and captivating manner.
Altogether, the two year 12 students were calm, collected, and confident which certainly added to the relaxed atmosphere of the presentation. Several members of the audience took it upon themselves to share their own views on the engaging talk by Claudia and Karim, whereas a few others had decided to ask questions which resulted in some fruitful discussions amongst the students.
As the Economics Society starts the unit of behavioural economics, Claudia and Karim have surely provided a great foundation for the students to build upon. On the subject of the presentation itself, though the concept had been explained in a crisp and exhilarating manner with numerous examples to elucidate the idea of behavioural economics and its relation with social media, a flow chart or a web chart could have further engaged the audience by presenting the information with a more visual approach kept in mind. Regardless, the pair successfully captured the attention of the audience and got their point across in a fascinating way.
On the whole, the presentation was undoubtedly enjoyable and we look forward to more presentations and talks from the members of the Economics Society. The group was thankful to Claudia and Karim for their commendable work on the presentation!
Join the Economics Society in CH 15 every Friday from 10:30-10:55 to have the opportunity to present! As we continue the unit of Behavioural Economics, the next presentation will be on January 26th and will be given by Mr. Halden. The group hopes to see you there!
