Behavioral Economics in Closed Economies

描述（由申请人提供）：行为经济学是微观经济学概念的应用（例如，消费者需求）和行为实验分析内的措施。最近的行为经济学研究表明，相对消费者功效不是一个单一的结构，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，可以仅通过测量a）需求强度（例如，当药物获得不受限制时的药物消费），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有弹性时的价格）和d）O-max（由药品供应商维持的最高响应率）。 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其他措施的疗效（例如，断点和偏好）即使后者的度量不一致（例如，可卡因比哌醋甲酯保持更高的折点，但在选择情况下药物之间没有偏好）。拟议中的研究将解决现存的行为经济学文献的局限性：迄今为止，只有三个实验研究了上述四个需求指标与传统的相对生产效率指标之间的关系。其中一项研究只采用了假设的奖励，另一项研究未能证明所有措施之间的一致性。 因此，行为经济学账户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中的相对减毒剂功效（仅在实验期间获得减毒剂）。实验1将考察两种价格之间的偏好。在过去的两年中收集的需求曲线与这些预测器将被用来预测a）在价格范围内的偏好，B）峰值响应率，和c）累进比断点。 正确的预测将支持行为经济学对相对药物疗效的解释。实验2将使用药物（酒精自我给药）和非药物给药器评估相同的预测。

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.