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LeadAfrik
Intermediate · Self-paced2026 Edition

Behavioural and Household Economics

The empirically-grounded model of how people actually decide about saving, borrowing, insurance, and risk. Kahneman-Tversky-Thaler synthesised with the African empirical literature on microfinance, mobile money, and household financial behaviour.

8

Modules

~7h 10m

Reading time

Intermediate

Level

Self-paced

Format

§

Syllabus

  1. 01

    Why standard theory falls short

    System 1 vs System 2, prospect theory, the four standard-model assumptions that fail empirically, and where standard theory still works.

    ~50 minModule 01
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  2. 02

    Heuristics and biases

    Availability, representativeness, anchoring, affect — the heuristics System 1 uses and the biases they produce.

    ~55 minModule 02
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  3. 03

    Time and self-control

    Present bias (β-δ model), time-inconsistent choice, commitment devices, the welfare implications of commitment products.

    ~55 minModule 03
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  4. 04

    Savings and mental accounting

    Why people don't treat money as fungible, applications to chama / M-Shwari / SACCOs, designing with mental-accounting compartments.

    ~50 minModule 04
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  5. 05

    Risk and insurance

    Prospect-theory loss aversion vs standard risk aversion, why insurance under-purchasing in Africa, microinsurance design.

    ~55 minModule 05
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  6. 06

    Microfinance and credit behaviour

    Grameen group lending, the six-country microcredit RCT, the shift to digital credit and the consumer-harm patterns.

    ~55 minModule 06
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  7. 07

    Behavioural product design

    Defaults, commitment, social proof, gamification. M-PESA as case study. The line between design and manipulation.

    ~55 minModule 07
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  8. 08

    Field experiments in behavioural econ

    RCTs, stepped-wedge, the J-PAL evidence base, methodological limits, designing a behavioural-finance evaluation.

    ~55 minModule 08
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How to use this course

Start with module 01 if the material is new; skip ahead if you have prior exposure. Each module is self-contained but the arc is sequential — the projects in the final module assume the toolkit from modules 1-11. Every module ends with key takeaways and a curated further-reading list with primary sources.