Course Description

Instructor: Shai Robkin

This course explores emerging research into the underlying forces that drive individual and collective societal behaviors, focusing on the work of behavioral economists, social psychologists and neuroscientists. We’ll also examine what behavioral scientists have to say about some of the most important and often divisive issues of the day and their possible implications for public policy.

Bio: Shai (pronounced “Shy”) Robkin works with small and mid-size business executives to leverage the power of behavioral economics. A serial entrepreneur, Shai, together with his wife Judy, opened in 1981 Israel’s first combination bookstore/coffee shop. They returned to Atlanta in 1984 to care for aging parents, using the proceeds from the sale of the Israeli store to acquire Vernon, a manufacturer and distributor of library supplies. Vernon’s technology division was sold in 2011 to One Equity Partners, a division of JP Morgan. The library supplies part of the company was sold in June 2019. He is an active volunteer on behalf of a number of causes, including instant runoff/ranked choice voting and living kidney donation. His work as a behavioral economist led him to explore behavioral science in general and to start and lead a social psychology podcast club.