Behavioral Economics (Honors)

Behavioral Economics, taught by Nicole Ruffo and Christina Smith, will be offered at the Honors level for the 2023-2024 school year. 

Please describe the new course you will be teaching, including main objectives, projects or focuses. 

“Behavioral Economics is the name of the course and it is a combination of psychology and economics. We will use principles of psychology to understand our decision making. That decision making is both about economic and financial decisions, but also other types of decisions that we make, like where we spend our time, how we spend our money and why we spend our money on certain things.”

Why do you think this course is beneficial to have offered at Algonquin?

“I think that having students armed with knowledge about how they are spending their money and their time and why they are doing that is so important. We are constantly bombarded by advertisements, whether they are online or just in our classrooms and in our world looking around. It will benefit students to understand all of the things that go into pushing us into getting things and not saving our money, and instead spending it on something today rather than thinking about tomorrow. I just think it’s going to help make our students more self-aware about decision making.”

Why do you encourage/suggest students take this course? 

“We are combining two different fields [so through the] interdisciplinary nature of the class, students will get to see the connections between the disciplines. It’s also a different look at economics. It’ll give students a wider perspective on their financial health and well-being.” 

What are you most looking forward to about teaching this course? 

“I think that this course is going to draw students that maybe a regular psychology offering wouldn’t have, and I’m looking forward to having students who are interested in economics and psychology and both of those things at the same time in the same room. I’m also really looking forward to teaching with another teacher, [Ruffo], because it will allow us to learn from each other and to be able to support our students better. Two teachers in the room is a great opportunity for all of us, for students and teachers.”