“Herd Behavior in Humans and Other Animals”

Talk Summary: I describe some simple mathematics of, and evidence on, herd behavior in humans and other animals.  There is a large literature on herd behavior written by economists; there is a huge literature on herd behavior by zoologists and biologists.  Yet the most-cited herding paper in zoology has never been cited in a standard economics journal (Web of Science search, Spring 2016).  The overlap between these two literatures is almost zero.  I try to suggest ways forward.

Bio: Andrew Oswald is a Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick. His work lies mainly at the border between economics and behavioural science, and includes the empirical study of human happiness. He serves on the board of editors of Science. Previously at Oxford and the London School of Economics, with spells as Lecturer, Princeton University (1983-4); De Walt Ankeny Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College (1989-91); Jacob Wertheim Fellow, Harvard University (2005); Visiting Fellow, Cornell University (2008); Research Director, IZA Bonn (2011-12). He is an ISI Highly-Cited Researcher.

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