Para garantizarle una navegación por nuestra web segura y de calidad, le informamos que utilizamos Cookies. Si está de acuerdo clique ACEPTAR. Puede bloquear o eliminar las cookies instaladas en su equipo mediante la configuración de las opciones del navegador. Para más información consulte nuestra Política de Cookies
Acepto
Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas

Publicaciones

The Evolution of Self-Control in the Brain
WP-AD 2018-04
The Evolution of Self-Control in the Brain
Jiménez-Gómez, D.
Año de publicacion: 2018
Palabras clave: neuroeconomics, evolution of preferences, self-control
Clasificación JEL: D60, D90, C72, D81.
DOI: http://dx.medra.org/10.12842/WPAD-2018-04
Resumen
Temptation and self-control evolved as single mechanism to make humans behave against their own self-interest. I analyze the evolution of self-control in a principal-agent framework, in which the agent has access to private information but his utility cannot depend on all rel-evant variables. The principal can obtain the first best asymptotically by biasing the utility of the agent (from which an endogenous conflict emerges) and simultaneously endowing the agent with a limited amount of self-control. Several empirical properties of self-control, observed in psychological experiments, are explained in terms of the model: 1) self-control grows over time as it is exercised; 2) self-control is lower when the level of glucose in the blood is low, but does not depend on a physical resource; 3) as the environment becomes more tempting, individuals exhibit less self-control. The model sheds light on the di¿erence between self-control and hyperbolic discounting and provides a framework for understanding the recent surge of chronic non-communicable diseases, suggesting that the current environment could be welfare-reducing.