Behavioural Economics and Human Decision Making: Instances from the Health Care System

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    Abstract

    Over the last two decades behavioural economics has gained much momentum among scholars because of its innovative and controversial ways of explaining processes and mechanisms underpinning individuals' judgements and decision making. Thanks to these features, behavioural economics has been applied to diversified domains, namely finance, public choice and marketing. Although the intrinsic characteristics of the health care sector, ranging from incomplete and asymmetrical information to high frequency of critical choices, make the sector a fertile ground for behavioural economics applications, research on the influences of behavioural economics on health care and clinical decision making are still rather fragmented. Therefore, through an interdisciplinary literature review integrating behavioural economics research with medical and behavioural decision-making studies, this article contributes to behavioural decision-making literature by providing a wide overview of how behavioural economics strategies may impact, and be implemented in, diverse health care circumstances. Examples of behavioural economics applications to health care circumstances include: organ donation and transplantation; habitual choices; individuals' loss aversion and trust; present-biased preference; decision fatigue and excessive choice. Hence, this article aims to promote the effective behaviour of both consumers and providers in health care.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)659-664
    Number of pages6
    JournalHealth policy (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
    Volume124
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2020

    Keywords

    • Behavioural Economics
    • Decision Making
    • Health Care Sector
    • Traditional Economics
    • 22/2 OA procedure

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