Hello my dear listeners and welcome back to the Kapil Gupta Career Pot Show. And today I want you to imagine a very simple scene. A student says, I'll save money from this month, and then a sale appears online, free delivery winks at the student, and suddenly the budget dies a silent death. Or think of this. People know they should eat healthy, pay taxes on time, study regularly, and avoid last-minute panic. But so many people still delay, overspend, ignore, or choose badly. Now the big question is this if humans are supposed to be rational, then why do we behave like this so often? So that question sits the heart of behavioral economics. The OECD explains that behavioral insights add to conventional economics by using evidence on how people depart from fully rational decision-making and misperceive risk, while the India's Economic Survey 2019-20 described behavioral economics as drawing on psychology to nudge people toward desirable behavior. And that is where the career of a behavioral economist becomes fascinating. A behavioral economist studies how real people make decisions in the real world, not how perfect robots would make decisions in a textbook. So this is a career for the student who is curious about money, habits, emotions, incentives, public policy, consumer behavior, apps, defaults, saving, procrastination, and the little biases that quietly shape big decisions. So if you're someone who enjoys both economics and psychology, this could be a beautiful career for you. I empower students, parents, and conscious professionals to design a fulfilling life and career by aligning their minds, values, and aspirations. I do it with coaching, mindset work, and the game-changing power of graphotherapy. Because students deserve more than just guidance, they deserve transformation. So let's dive in. Now, let's first talk about scope, because that is where a career dream becomes practical. In India, behavioral economics is already influencing public policy. The economic survey 2019-20 devoted a full chapter to behavioral economics and nudge, and it specifically said that missions like Swach Bhart Mission and Beati Bachau, Beati Parhao successfully used behavioral insights. Niti Ayok's stories of change also says behavioral insights can equip policymakers with knowledge that helps them anticipate behavior that standard models may not fully predict. More recently, Niti documents on India's net zero transition have explicitly discussed the need to integrate behavioral insights into climate and energy policy. So this field is not some imported theory that India is merrily observing. It is already part of the policy conversation here. Now that means the scope in India is wider than job title suggests. In practice, behavioral economics talent often gets absorbed into public policy, governance, consulting, research, fintech, consumer finance, social impact work, communication design, product experimentation, education, health, and climate-related behavioral change projects. So this is a grounded inference from the way behavioral insights is used in policy sectors and industries. The OECD's work on behavioral insights covers education, energy, environment, finance, health, labor markets, taxes, and telecom, while the behavioral insights team works across consumer finance and health systems. And the World Bank Embed Unit supports governments and project teams in designing and evaluating behaviorally informed interventions. Abroad, the field is even more mature. The OECD has built a large global body of work on behavioral insights and public policy. The World Bank has dedicated behavioral sciences team called the Imbed, and the Behavioral Insights team describes itself as a global research and innovation consultancy using human behavior to improve people's lives. Universities like Warwick, LSE, Glasgow, Maastricht, and the University of Cyprus now run dedicated or closely related programs in behavioral science or behavioral economics because the market is real. Warwick's MSC explicitly says it is meant for work in business, consumer-led industries, the financial sector, and public policy. While LSE says its MSc in behavioral science prepares graduates for careers across the public sector, private sector, NGOs, and academia. So yes, the scope is strong. In India, it is growing through policy, digital products, finance, and governance. Internationally, it is already established in research, policy, consulting, consumer strategy, experimentation, and evidence-based design decision. And now let us make this career feel real. A behavioral economist tries to understand why people do what they do, especially when their actions do not match their goal. For example, why do borrowers miss payments even when reminders exist? Why do users ignore a helpful health message but respond to a different wording? Why do citizens delay tax filing? Why do consumers choose an expensive option because of how choices are arranged? Why do people keep saying they want to save and still spend impulsively? Behavioral economists study these patterns and then help design better choices, smarter communication, and more effective systems. The World Bank says embed works with project teams and governments to diagnose, design, and evaluate behaviorally informed interventions, while BIT's finance and health work shows how behavior science is used to improve financial decisions, healthcare uptake, and public health systems. So, in a normal day, a behavioral economist may be reading research papers, designing surveys or experiments, analyzing data, testing how wording changes behavior, studying defaults and incentives, writing policy notes or working with product, finance, or government teams to improve decision making. In one job, you may help a fintech app improve repayment behavior. In another, you may help a public health campaign increase participation. And in another, you may test how a simple change in form design or messaging improves outcomes. That is partly an inference, but it's a very grounded one because these are exactly the kinds of sectors and applications described by the OECD, World Bank, and VIT. Now, this is why I find the career so exciting for Gen Z. It's not dry economics, it's living, breathing economics. It studies the messy truth of human choices. It asks not only what should I do or what should people do, but also what do people actually do and how can systems help them do better? That makes it useful in policy, business, health, finance, sustainability, education, and technology. And now comes the big student question: How do you become a behavioral economist? The honest answer is that there's usually no one single road. Most behavioral economists build this career through some combination of economics, psychology, statistics, data analysis, public policy, experimental methods, and research design. The University of Warwick's MSc in Behavioral and Economic Science combines expertise from psychology, economics, and business, while the University of Cyprus says its MSc in Behavioral Economics is jointly offered by the Department of Economics and Psychology. LSE's MSc in Behavioral Science is also explicitly built to help students understand, predict, and influence human behavior across sectors. So the field is clearly interdisciplinary by nature. In India, direct degree options are still relatively rare, but they are appearing. Christ University now offers an MS in behavioral economics with data analytics and it describes the program, a first of its kind master's program in India, with an interdisciplinary structure and industry exposure. That is probably the cleanest direct pathway at the moment. Another strong India route is to build a foundation through economics plus psychology. Ashoka University offers a major in economics, has a separate department of psychology and cognitive sciences, and even offers a dedicated behavioral economics course for economic students. Now that combination can be very useful if you want to build towards this niche. Amritha also runs a school of social and behavioral sciences and offers coursework connecting behavioral economics and public policy within its social data and policy ecosystem. If you look abroad, some of the strongest options include Warwick for Behavioral and Economic Science, LSA for behavioral science, University of Cyprus for a direct MSc in behavioral economics, University of Glasgow for Behavioral Science, the University of Amsterdam for behavioral economics and game theory. Maastricht is also a strong research environment with behavioral insights center and human decision science master's route. Now these are not all identical, but they are all highly relevant for someone serious about this field. And as for skills, you need more than just being good at economics. You need curiosity about human behavior, comfort with data, statistics, experimental thinking, survey design, strong writing, and the ability to turn research into action. Communication matters because many behavioral economists must explain insights to non-economists. And numerical confidence matters because you may be testing interventions, analyzing patterns, or evaluating outcomes. In simple words, this is the right career for the student who likes both people and patterns. And now let us talk about the money question. I want to be very transparent here. In India, the exact title behavioral economist is still uncommon. So salary data is patchy. Glassdoor's India pages do not yet give a strong, reliable, direct benchmark for the exact role, and even its India salary page that appears for behavioral economists in turn is based on only one submission, which is not useful as a market signal. A better way to think about pay in India is through adjacent role labels. Glassdoor job listings tagged to behavioral economics in India show some employer-provided salary ranges around 4 to 6 lakhs and some postings around 10 lakhs, while Glassdoor's economist salary data for New Delhi averages around 13 lakhs per year. So in India, pay can vary widely depending on whether the role is in policy, consulting, research, consumer insights, finance, or product strategy. Abroad, the numbers are clear. In the UK, Glasgow reports average pay for a behavioral economist at about 49,000 pounds a year, with a typical range from the high 30,000 pounds into the 60,000 pounds. In the United States, the broader benchmark from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics is that economists had a median annual wage of $115,000 in May 2024, and the American Economics Association repeats the same BLS benchmark because many behavioral economists abroad work under economist research, policy, or decision science titles. That broader economist benchmark is often more meaningful than exact niche title alone. So, yes, this can be a financially rewarding career, especially once you build the right mix of economics, psychology, research, and data skills. But it rewards depth. The people who do best here are usually the ones who can both understand behavior and measure it properly. So, what should you remember from today's episode? A behavioral economist is not just someone who studies money. A behavioral economist studies people making choices. This is a career for the student who wants to understand why we procrastinate, overspend, ignore helpful information, follow bad defaults, copy social norms, or choose emotionally instead of logically. It is a career with real use in public policy, business, health, finance, sustainability, and digital products. India has already brought behavioral economics into public policy conversations. And globally, the field is growing through institutions like the OECD, World Bank, BIT, and major universities. So if you're a student who enjoys economics but also keeps asking why people behave like this, then do not ignore that curiosity. It may be a career signal. Some careers are built by following popular trends, others are built by following a question that won't leave your mind. Behavioral economics belongs to the second kind. And now let me speak directly to the student or parent listening to this episode. If today's episode on behavioral economics to open your mind to a career you had never seriously considered before, imagine how many more right-fit careers may still be hidden from you. The truth is the right career is not found through pressure, guesswork, or random opinions from people around you. It is found through clarity. If you're confused about your career path, your subject choices, your college roadmap, or your future direction, connect with me for my career counseling program. I help students understand their strengths, discover careers that truly fit them, and move forward with confidence. Whether you're interested in economics, psychology, public policy, research, study abroad, or a niche future ready path like behavioral economics, I can help you decode what is right for you. So message me today and let us find the career path that is truly meant for you. Your dream career was never lost. It was simply unread. So let us decode it together.