Behavioral Economics in Closed Economies

描述(由申请人提供)：行为经济学是在行为的实验分析中应用微观经济学概念(例如，消费者需求)和测量方法。最近的行为经济学研究表明，相对增强剂的功效并不是一个单一的概念，而应该被理解为消费者需求的几个不同组成部分。根据该模型，只能通过测量a)需求强度(例如，药物获取不受限制时的药品消费)、b)需求弹性(消费对价格波动的敏感性)、c)P-max(需求从无弹性转变为弹性的价格)和d)O-max(由增强剂维持的峰值响应率)来完全评估相对增强剂的功效。有限的经验证据支持这一分析，并表明这些措施可用于预测增强剂功效的其他衡量标准(例如，断点和偏好)，即使后一种衡量标准不一致(例如，可卡因维持的断点高于哌醋酸甲酯，但在有选择的情况下，两种药物之间没有偏好)。拟议的研究将解决现有行为经济学文献的局限性：到目前为止，只有三个实验检验了上述四种需求指标与更传统的相对增强剂有效性指标之间的关系。其中一项研究只使用了假设的奖励，另一项研究未能证明所有衡量标准之间的一致性。因此，行为经济学解释优越性的证据目前是有限的。拟议的实验将使用稳态实验设计来评估封闭经济条件下的相对增强剂效率(只有在实验期间才能获得增强剂)。实验1将考察两种增强剂在广泛的价格范围内的偏好。过去两年使用这些增强剂收集的需求曲线将被用来预测a)价格范围内的偏好，b)峰值响应率，c)累进比率断点。正确的预测将支持相对增强剂功效的行为经济学解释。实验2将评估使用药物(酒精自我给药)和非药物增强剂的相同预测。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Behavioral economics is the application of microeconomic concepts (e.g., consumer demand) and measures within the experimental analysis of behavior. Recent behavioral-economic research suggests that relative reinforcer efficacy is not a singular construct, but should instead be understood as several different components of consumer demand. According to this model, relative reinforcer efficacy may be completely assessed only by measuring a) demand intensity (e.g., drug consumption when drug access is unconstrained), b) elasticity of demand (sensitivity of consumption to price fluctuations), c) P-max (price at which demand shifts from inelastic to elastic) and d) O-max (peak response rate maintained by the reinforcer). Limited empirical evidence supports this analysis and suggests that these measures may be used to predict other measures of reinforcer efficacy (e.g., breakpoint and preference) even when the latter measures disagree (e.g., higher breakpoints maintained by cocaine than methylphenidate but no preference between the drugs in a choice situation). The proposed research will address a limitation of the extant behavioral-economic literature: Only three experiments have thus far examined the relation between the four demand measures noted above and more traditional measures of relative reinforcer efficacy. One of these studies employed only hypothetical rewards and one failed to demonstrate concordance between all measures. Thus, the evidence for the superiority of the behavioral economic account is presently limited. The proposed experiments will assess relative reinforcer efficacy in a closed economy (access to reinforcers is obtained only during the experimental sessions) using steady-state experimental designs. Experiment 1 will examine preference between two reinforcers across a broad range of prices. Demand curves collected over the last two years with these reinforcers will be used to predict a) preferences across the range of prices, b) peak response rates, and c) progressive-ratio breakpoint. Correct predictions will support the behavioral economic account of relative reinforcer efficacy. Experiment 2 will assess the same predictions using drug (alcohol self-administration) and non-drug reinforcers.