Policy consequences of the new neuroeconomic framework

Abstract

Current theories of decision making suggest that the neural circuits in mammalian brains (including humans) computationally combine representations of the past (memory), present (perception), and future (agentic goals) to take actions that achieve the needs of the agent. How information is represented within those neural circuits changes what computations are available to that system which changes how agents interact with their world to take those actions. We argue that the computational neuroscience of decision making provides a new microeconomic framework (neuroeconomics) that offers new opportunities to construct policies that interact with those decision-making systems to improve outcomes. After laying out the computational processes underlying decision making in mammalian brains, we present four applications of this logic with policy consequences: (1) contingency management as a treatment for addiction, (2) precommitment and the sensitivity to sunk costs, (3) media consequences for changes in housing prices after a disaster, and (4) how social interactions underlie the success (and failure) of microfinance institutions.