The student Economics Association will be hosting William Harbaugh, a professor of economics at the University of Oregon, for a lecture titled “Using Brain Scans to Test Economic Models of Altruism” at 7 p.m. Oct. 14 in the Student Union Building’s Simplot Ballroom.
Harbaugh works in the field of neuroeconomics, the study of how economic behavior can shape our understanding of the brain, and how neuroscientific discoveries can constrain and guide models in economics. Neuroscience techniques allow us to look inside the human brain while it experiences economic outcomes and makes economic decisions. Neuroeconomics uses these techniques to ask how people make economic decisions and to examine the implications of those decisions.
The lecture is free and open to faculty, staff, students and the public.