 The Paradox of Self-Destructive ChoicesChapter Chapter 1 in The Economics of Self-Destructive Choices, 2016, pp 1-23 from Springer Abstract: Abstract Many pathological problems that are prevalent in modern society, such as undersaving, overborrowing, credit-card bankruptcy, and lifestyle-related diseases (obesity, smoking, drug abuse, and gambling addiction), are all closely related to the choices made by the people who constitute the society. People sometimes overborrow money in order to spend it on leisure and/or luxury items, overeat, spend indulgent times, smoke, and gamble to the point of destitution. In all of these situations, the results of the choice to engage in such behaviors have adverse effects on the individual’s future. Moreover, self-harmful behavior is not always limited to the extreme cases described above. For example, on occasion, we sometimes stay up drinking until late at night even though we have a meeting early the next morning. As another example, rather than completing an important task with an impending deadline, we often engage in trivial tasks such as cleaning our work desk, checking e-mails, and self-grooming. Keywords: Discount Rate; Hyperbolic Discount; High Discount Rate; Exponential Discount; Libertarian Paternalism (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:advchp:978-4-431-55793-7_1 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from DOI: 10.1007/978-4-431-55793-7_1 Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Advances in Japanese Business and Economics from Springer |
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