May 29, 2008
I am delivering a talk on behavioral economics and health care later today at the National Academy of Social Insurance. Today's event is being held in honor of Peter Diamond's winning the Robert Ball award from NASI. Peter is not only brilliant but also a wonderful friend and colleague, and I am thrilled that he has won this award. Peter has been interested in behavioral economics, which combines insights from psychology with those from economics, for almost 40 years. The talk emphasizes my belief that effective policy design, includingpolicies affectinghealth care, must reflect more of the insights from behavioral economics -- that is, we need a bit more "Psych 101" in addition to "Econ 101" in the design of public policies.