Elasticity of Money as a Reinforcer: Assessing Multiple Compositions of Unit Price

Behavioral economics is the integration of concepts from micro-economics into behavior analysis. Most of the research in behavioral economics has been done with non-human subjects and with drugs as reinforcers. This study represents an extension of previous research to assess money as a reinforcer w...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Viken, Kjetil
Other Authors: Hyten, Cloyd
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: University of North Texas 1999
Subjects:
Online Access:https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2234/
Description
Summary:Behavioral economics is the integration of concepts from micro-economics into behavior analysis. Most of the research in behavioral economics has been done with non-human subjects and with drugs as reinforcers. This study represents an extension of previous research to assess money as a reinforcer with humans as subjects. The participants in this study solved math problems to earn money at various unit prices. Results indicate that demand of money adhered to the law of demand in that consumption decreased as unit prices increased. An underlying assumption is that consumption should be equivalent at different compositions of unit price. Replications of either the same or different compositions of unit price indicated that there were some discrepancies in consumption in this study.