Behavioral Economics and the Future of Behavior Analysis

Dr. Steven Hursh's CCBS presentation on behavioral economics - for your review.

Introduction

At the recent 2003 Annual Meeting of the Trustees of the Cambridge Center, Dr. Steven Hursh, Professor at Johns Hopkins University Medical School and senior staff member at SAIC, made a presentation on Behavioral Economics and the Future of Behavior Analysis. As you may know, Steve has been one of the pioneers in the development and application of behavioral economics models within behavior analysis.

Steve's presentation was intellectually stimulating and provoked an animated and enjoyable discussion among Trustees and friends attending the meeting.

His presentation is available for your review below. Please allow a few minutes for the presentation to load.

In this presentation, Steve describes the use of a behavioral economics framework in behavior analytic research, and the use of reinforcers or "commodities" to maintain performance. Research on demand curves, elasticity of demand and unit price, as well as substitution and complementarity between commodities offered for choice is described. Research on elasticity across reinforcers and situations, particularly as applied to drug abuse, is summarized.

Steve's presentation is designed to, as he describes it, "....expand our thinking about the behavioral economics of the individual consumer to a consideration of the interaction between consumer and supplier, what may be the nucleus of a social theory of mediated reinforcement."

We invite you to read and reflect on Steve's presentation. And, on behalf of Steve, know that your comments and suggestions are welcome. Please address them to Steve Hursh through his email.

And we thank Steve for this valuable contribution to the life of the Cambridge Center.

Presentation:

Behavioral Economics - PowerPoint Presentation

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Behavioral Economics - Presentation (Adobe Acrobat PDF format)

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