Introduction to the Handbook of Research Methods in Behavioural Economics

Core methodological themes in behavioural economics are introduced. Of particular importance is that behavioural economics’ approach to analysis builds on the premise that economic models need to explain and describe real-world phenomena. The 27 original chapters exemplify behavioural economics methodology in many of its dimensions. They demonstrate how behavioural economics can provide insights on a variety of economic issues and inform policy as well as contributing to an enriched and nuanced understanding of human behaviour in an economic context. The approach in this book is to incorporate chapters that take different behaviouralist approaches and or methodologies, ranging from the heuristic and biases narrative to the original bounded rationality approach developed by Simon. Overall, an agnostic methodological approach is taken in constructing this book, which provides readers with a broader perspective on possible methodologies one can adopt to address an array of economic and related questions and policies. This chapter also briefly summarises the key contributions of each chapter.