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Regular version of the site
Bachelor 2024/2025

Sociology of Financial Behavior

Type: Elective course (Sociology and Social Informatics)
Area of studies: Sociology
Delivered by: School of Sociology
When: 4 year, 1, 2 module
Mode of studies: offline
Open to: students of all HSE University campuses
Language: English
ECTS credits: 5
Contact hours: 56

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The «Sociology of consumer finance» Bachelor Program is developed according to the standard educational requirements of the Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education «National Research University «Higher School of Economics» (HSE). Students are supposed to be familiar with Probability Theory and Statistics and Economics.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • The main goal of this unit is to develop a critical, reflexive, and interdisciplinary approach to key problems in contemporary research on financial behaviour of households.
  • To know theoretical models of household saving behaviour which are developed in economic theory, economic psychology and economic sociology
  • To develop analytical skills to understand and interpret macro and micro statistics on household incomes and finance, and produce evidence based arguments
  • To have an overview of the results of empirical research on consumer finance studies
  • To develop research-related skills - to evaluate different research designs and methods, to formulate researchable questions, to construct questionnaire/interview guide, to write analytical reports using the data from national surveys or official statistics
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • to know conceptual and operational definitions of financial literacy and financial capability, as well as the results of international comparisons of financial literacy of individuals.
  • to know the causes and long-run macroeconomic implications of the rise in household indebtedness.
  • to know theoretical approaches and empirical research on the control and allocation of money within households, systems of money management in the families
  • to know theoretical models of households savings behaviour which are developed in behavioural economics
  • to know theoretical models of households savings behaviour which are developed in economic psychology
  • to know theoretical models of households savings behaviour which are developed in economic theory
  • to understand and interpret macro and micro statistics on household incomes and savings
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • Introduction
  • Financial markets and retail finance: institutional landscape and product line
  • Economic models of consumption and saving behaviour
  • Economic psychology of personal finance
  • Behavioural finance
  • Economic sociology of household financial decision making
  • Financial literacy and capability
  • Consumer credit and overindebtedness
  • Financial vulnerability of households
  • Access to financial services, financial inclusion, saving motives
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking Presentation
  • non-blocking Task
  • non-blocking class participation
  • non-blocking Exam
    Exam tests all knowledge and skills mastered during the course
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • 2024/2025 2nd module
    0.4 * Exam + 0.25 * Presentation + 0.25 * Task + 0.1 * class participation
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Essig, L., & Winter, J. (2009). Item non-response to financial questions in household surveys: An experimental study of interviewer and mode effects. Munich Reprints in Economics. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.p.lmu.muenar.20547
  • Girasa, R. J. (2016). Shadow Banking : The Rise, Risks, and Rewards of Non-Bank Financial Services. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1344251
  • Is cohabitation more egalitarian? The Division of household labor in five European countries. (2012). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.58844C54
  • Jeffrey M. Wooldridge. (2019). Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach, Edition 7. Cengage Learning.
  • Jérôme Coffinet, & Christophe Jadeau. (2017). Household financial exclusion in the Eurozone: the contribution of the Household Finance and Consumption survey. IFC Bulletins Chapters. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.h.bis.bisifc.46.18
  • Lewin-Epstein, N. (2006). The division of household labor in Germany and Israel. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 68(5), 1147–1164. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2006.00320.x
  • Min, C. K. (2019). Applied Econometrics : A Practical Guide. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=2045438
  • N. Gregory Mankiw. (2020). PDF Macroeconomics 10th Edition by N. Gregory Mankiw Download. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3752461
  • Smeeding, T. M., & Weinberg, D. H. (2001). Toward a Uniform Definition of Household Income. Review of Income & Wealth, 47(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4991.00001
  • Webley, P. (2001). The Economic Psychology of Everyday Life. Hove: Psychology Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=536848

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Richard H. Thaler. (2018). From Cashews to Nudges: The Evolution of Behavioral Economics. American Economic Review, (6), 1265. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.108.6.1265

Authors

  • PILIPENKO EKATERINA STANISLAVOVNA
  • KUZINA OLGA EVGENEVNA