Resumen de Applying behavioral economics to the public sector

James Alm, Carolyn J. Bourdeaux

• �Behavioral economics�, or the application of methods and evidence from other social sciences to eco-nomics, has increased greatly in significance in the last two decades. In this paper we discuss the basicelements of behavioral economics. We then assess several applications of behavioral economics to theanalysis of the public sector, including specific applications to public economics and, importantly, tothe closely related area of public budgeting. We conclude with suggestions on �and predictions of�topics in which future applications should prove useful