Objectives

This course is for students who wish to acquire the principles of management of constraints and decision making from a perspective based on recent discoveries in neuroscience, cognitive science, biology and ecology.

The goal is to provide practical benchmarks to various stakeholders of the economy on resource management, information and waste in a neuroeconomics approach.

Contents

Contemporary society, as each individual, is set to change in a world with limited resources. The choices and decisions we are taking must necessarily consider the constraints imposed on producers and consumers through access to resources and their management. These same principles are found in brain function and behavior by one of its most characteristic behavior: decision-making with respect to whether investment, purchasing, risk taking, consumption are affordable. Where begins and ends the freedom of choice we make?

This course analyzes the information processing by the brain and especially the structures and the brain mechanisms that underlie the cognitive, motor and emotional behavior. Much of the course is devoted to the illustration of examples and experiences of neuroscience and to the methodological approach. Several chapters deal with the organization, allocation and management of resources for development and evolution of living systems in general.

Student participation will be encouraged during the development of exercises and classroom interactions. A working group will be assigned to students who must submit a written report which will be evaluated with consideration for the note.

IMPORTANT: the priority is given to those students who take this course as mandatory. In order to provide an adequate support during the course, the number of students choosing this course as optional, mainly those enrolled in the Master in Management, is limited. The group work is based on a maximum number of 12 groups, that is approximately 36-40 students maximum, including the students enrolled in the Master of Law (MLaw) in Legal Issues, Crime and Security of Information Technologies.

The reference list is indicative and goes well beyond the strict content of the course but serves to deepen the subject matter.

References

1. Sacha Gironde - La neuroéconomie : Comment le cerveau gère mes intérêts – Plon Editeur, 2008.

2. Mickaël Mangot - Psychologie de l'investisseur et des marchés financiers – Dunod, 2008

3. Jason Zweig - Your Money and Your Brain: Become a Smarter, More Successful Investor, the Neuroscience Way - Souvenir Press Ltd, 2007,2008. Egalement traduit en français

4. Daniel Richard, Didier Orsal – Neurophysiologie: Organisation et fonctionnement du système nerveux – 3e édition, Dunod collection Science Sup., 2007.

5. Bruce Alberts, Dennis Bray, Karen Hopkin, Alexander Johnson, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, Peter Walter – Essential Cell Biology - 2nd Edition, London, GB / Garland Science, 2004.

6. D.H. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, Dennis L. Meadows - The Limits to Growth: The 30-year Update – White River Jct., VT / Chelsea Green Pub Co, 2004.

7. Gordon M. Shepherd - The Synaptic Organization of the Brain – 5th edition, Oxford University Press, USA, 2003.

8. P.W. Glimcher - Decisions, Uncertainty, and the Brain: the Science of Neuroeconomics – Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2003.

9. Lester, R. Brown – Eco-économie : Une autre croissance est possible, écologique et durable – Paris / Ed. Seuil, 2003.

10. Stan Weinstein – Secrets pour gagner en bourse à la hausse et à la baisse – Hendaye / Editions Valor, 1998.

11. P. Bak – How nature works – New York, NY. / Springer Verlag, 1996.

12. Joël de Rosnay – L'homme symbiotique – Collection Points (P357), Paris/Editions du Seuil, 1995.

13. Armand Petitjean, Dennis L Meadows, Club de Rome, Georg Richt – Quelles limites? – Paris / Ed. Seuil, 1974.

14. D.L. Meadows, W.W. Behrens, D.H. Meadows, R.F. Naill, J. Randers, E.K.O. Zahn - Dynamics of Growth in a Finite World – Cambridge, MA / Wright-Allen, 1974.

Pre-requisites

None

Evaluation

First attempt

Exam:

Without exam (cf. terms)  

Evaluation:

The course is evaluated on the basis of an exam (thesis) (100% of the mark). The examination covers all the knowledge acquired during the course, including any conferences / seminars.

There is also a non-compulsory continuous assessment in the form of group work (of 3 students in general), which makes it possible to acquire a bonus mark which is added to the exam mark. If the group work is evaluated at 5.5 or more the bonus score is equal to 1, if the work is evaluated between 4.5 (included) and 5.5 (not included) a bonus score of 0.5 is acquired.

Retake

Exam:

Written 2h00 hours

Documentation:

Not allowed

Calculator:

Not allowed

Evaluation:

Retake exam accounts for 100% of the final grade: if a bonus work was acquired it will be included in the retake exam.

If a student repeat the whole semester, the student can choose, at the begin of the semester, to participate to a new non-compulsory continuous assessment in the form of group work. In case of a new non-compulsory continuous assessment is selected, then the new evaluation will replace the old one, irrespective of its magnitude (less, equal, or greater than the old one).