Digging Deeper in Behavioral Economics

Despite the good advice from one of my professors, Dr. Antonenko, to read at least one professional article a day, I have decided to take a few days off reading Sadker & Zittleman’s “Teachers, Schools, and Society” for work, and dozens of peer reviewed articles for my literature review at school topped with Dooley’s “Social Research Methods” - for school as well. I am fully aware that taking time off from reading is not something that a doctoral student can afford to do, however…. my recent interest in behavioral economics has not subdued, and I am starting to find ties from the discipline of economics to the discipline of education in ways that are quite intriguing and I feel compelled to follow until I either reach a dead end, or - perhaps find a lead that will necessitate doing some more reading and additional research. 

All of this takes me back to Richard Thaler’s (2015) book, “Misbehaving” which at glance does not have much to do with education whatsoever. Even at Barnes and Noble, this book is far away from the sections of Education and other social sciences. So - being an educator, where does my fascination with behavioral economics stem from? First, I found the discipline of behavioral economics interesting because it recognizes the centerpiece of our educational system - a human. Our clients are solely human beings, and as described by Richard Thaler, humans misbehave; they construct their experiences based on hunches that are not always reasonable, but nevertheless perceived to be good for them in a certain way. The first few chapters of “Misbehaving” are literally telling the story of our world in public education. Thaler’s discussion of statistical lives vs. identified lives also has a perfect application in schools. With the accountability measures, we are always looking at the statistics of the test scores. This data gets analyzed at so many levels by many different departments, but improved results in student learning are slow to follow. That is because we are dealing with statistics. When we start looking at individual students (identified lives), and working with each and every child at the classroom level, we can expect to see results. That is not to say that the statistical data does not matter. It does, but the difference can only be made when addressing the needs of individual students, one at a time.

Second, I could not help but chuckle when reading about the “endowment effect” - descried by Thaler as a phenomenon of people valuing what they already have higher than something that they do not currently have (but could have). This is the story of of our school system! While public perception of our schools is generally lower than average, parents of children attending our schools are generally (77% at the time) satisfied with the schools that their children are attending (giving the school an “A” or a “B”); (http://www.gallup.com/poll/142658/americans-views-public-schools-far-worse-parents.aspx). Furthermore, those that can afford, will opt to send their children to private schools altogether (http://humanevents.com/2013/10/17/where-do-public-school-teachers-send-their-own-kids/). The question is - why do parents favor the schools that their children attend while the general public is still doubtful about the efficacy of American education? While the data provided by Gallup is from 5 years ago, there are reasons to assume that the situation has not improved. In the sate of Florida, we have dumped one ineffective test (FCAT) for another (FSA) that could be (possibly) effective, however, the schools will not receive the majority of the test scores until several month into the next school year, hence continuing the saga of the same old murky waters of American education. 

Could behavioral economics provide a different lens for viewing our education? Let’s leave the value added models aside (once we have determined that the values that we are using are indeed valid for the purpose for which they are to be used) and look at the human aspect of education - our clients’ (students and parents) satisfaction. What is the picture that we get of American education then? This is a million dollar question, but using the theory of behavioral economics may provide some insight into understanding the perceptions of parents and students that are our clientele today.

Discovering  Behavioral Economics

One of the criteria that will resurface over and over during any professional practice doctoral student’s studies is the importance of connecting theory to practice. After all, this was the reason I decided to pursue this degree in the first place - to be able to use proven and research based practices in my current profession. A topic that has surfaced in my recent readings and is highly applicable to my professional practice is behavioral economics (Thaler, Benartzi). Thaler’s recent publication of “Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioural Economics” provides an interesting account on the topic, and is described as “bringing the academic discipline (of studying humans as central agents in economy) back to earth”. This is a timely topic as we recently walked away from a parental advisory committee meeting learning that our students’ parents would like to change the way of communication - they would like to get school information on their phones in the form of a text message. While I did not know what to think of that request at the time (or how to go about it), I am recognizing the validity of their request after having a subtle understanding of the behavioral economics. Thaler’s blog http://www.misbehavingbook.org/blog/ for his recent publication provides an example of the text based feedback used by one of the blood donation centers in Sweden where participants receive a text message when their blood is used. While there is not enough research available at this time to discuss the effects of this  phenomenon on the numbers of people donating blood - one must agree that it is a really neat idea! Without further research, one can assume that if people know that their blood was used to make a difference, they are more likely to donate blood again.

Why not use this analogy at schools? I know from personal experiences that e-mail and voice message are not effective, text message however may be the next “big thing”. Giving feedback in a form that is timely, easily accessible (our smart phones have become wearable technologies), and specific, can only aid in parent-school relationships. Of course, since we are talking about a public entity as well as data that may be confidential or otherwise sensitive, proper planning must go into developing a system as well as guidelines for making this happen at schools.