OCTOBER 15, 2020
Rationalizing self-defeating behaviors: theory and evidence
The economics community was abuzz recently in anticipation of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson for their work on auction theory. More is happening in the field, however, as BYU’s Dr. Olga Stoddard, Dr. Lars Lefgren, and Dr. John Stovall had their paper accepted into the Journal of Health Economics.
Their paper, “Rationalizing self-defeating behaviors: theory and evidence”, seeks to answer why individuals engage in self-harm; how these people, when trapped by multiple competing problems, experience the apathy of depression or inaction They hypothesized that individuals can only handle experiencing a certain amount of “latent stimuli”. They are excited with the news that this important research will now be published for others to study.
Check out the full article here.
