The Collaboration of Brain and Economics

Neuroeconomics: a new discipline at the cutting edge of psychology, neuroscience and economics.

September 2012 will mark the start of an interdisciplinary research master at Maastricht University: Neuroeconomics. The mission is to combine research into economic behaviour with neuroscience to obtain a better understanding under which circumstances people make decisions. The ultimate goal is to enhance economic models leading to better economic predictions. 

Students and graduates will research how people react to certain stimuli — i.e. bonuses in the financial sector or performance based wages in education — and how this reflects on what happens in the brain when we make certain decisions. Does the brain control intrinsic motivation to do your job as well as possible or is it the extrinsic motivation — the bonus or performance reward? 

Arno Riedl, one of the new discipline’s coordinators, notes: “Even now economists, psychologists and neuroscientists in Maastricht work together in this discipline. In the beginning it became obvious that we didn’t speak each other’s language. When a psychologist says ‘strategy’, he often means something completely different from an economist, while a neuroscientist interprets ‘reward’ very differently from an economist. Economic-cognitive research is on the rise and becoming more interdisciplinary with input from psychology, economics and neuroscience. We need more researchers from the various disciplines who have learnt to speak each other’s language. We will be educating these researchers within the Neuroeconomics discipline at Maastricht University.”

The programme is unique to The Netherlands. In Europe, only Zurich offers a similar programme, while just a few more programmes exist in the US. This is an ambitious programme covering many mathematical models, statistics and neuroscientifical methods. Students interested in the programme must write a motivational letter and include letters of recommendation. This will then be screened and may lead to an invitation for an interview. Closing date for applications is April 15.

Neuroeconomics is a new specialisation within the research master Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, recently judged “of excellent international standing” by the Panel of international experts commissioned by the Dutch-Flemish Accreditation Organisation. The programme is a joint venture of the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience and the Faculty of Health, Medicine & Life Sciences.  

For more information please visit: www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/fpn/researchmaster

Bron: Maastricht University - UM