Design a one-page study to understand if behavioral economics traits or concepts (bounded rationality, loss aversion, framing, etc.) are preventing people from achieving the best outcomes in a health or financial (wealth) related area. In other words, find an example where people seem to be acting in a not very rational manner and their health or wealth is suffering.
Include the following information on this study – about one paragraph per section.
1. Describe what the best scenario would be if we lived in a world of traditional (fully informed, forward thinking, rational) consumers, and how that differs from reality.
2. Identify the potential barrier(s) using behavioral economics terms/concepts. (why are people acting this way)
3. Discuss how you would identify which barrier(s) are in play. (survey, interview, data, etc.)
4. Discuss how you would propose overcoming the identified barriers. (intervention, share knowledge, public policy, etc.)
Use a title that helps the reader understand your study. For example, A Behavioral Intervention to Nudge People to Eat Persimmons. Do not use any study or intervention already discussed in the class material such as healthy food placement in school cafeterias from the video. However, you can find other sources/references and use a similar approach.
Use Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references can be in any format (APA, Chicago, MLA, footnotes, etc.) but need to be consistent. Both single or doublespace allowed. You should include at least three sources on this study. References, tables, figures, etc. can be added as extra pages but the written part is one page only. Feel free to use bullets, bold, italics, etc.
Potential Topic (many more out there – just a list to help you get started):
• Obesity • Low savings rate • Life Expectancy • Too much debt • Missing doctor’s visits • Fear of vaccines • Impulse buying • Use of payday lending • Lack of exercise • Spending too much • Student loan debt • Not saving enough
