Limited self‐control and longevity

Abstract

This paper proposes a new framework to discuss self-control problems in the context of life-cycle health and longevity. Individual decisions are conceptualized as the partial control of impulsive desires of a short-run self by a rationally forward-looking long-run self. The short-run self strives for immediate gratification through consumption of health-neutral and unhealthy goods. The long-run self reflects the long-term consequences of unhealthy behavior on health outcomes and longevity and invests time and money to improve current and future health. The model is calibrated with data from the United States and used to provide an assessment of the impact of imperfect self-control on unhealthy consumption, health investments, lifetime health, and the age at death.

Smoking Kills: An Economic Theory of Addiction, Health Deficit Accumulation, and Longevity

“…Short time horizons, time-inconsistent decision making (Gruber and Koszegi, 2001;Khwaja et al, 2007) or self-control problems (Strulik, 2017), certainly contribute to the understanding of addiction as well. Common addiction is a minimal-invasive modification of the classic theory of rational addiction that helps to motivate observable life cycle consumption patterns when individuals take into account that life is finite.…”

“…The focus on common addiction does not preclude that other more severe forms of bounded rationality, which are not addressed in this paper, as e.g. time inconsistent decision making (Gruber and Koszegi, 2001;Khwaja et al, 2007) or self-control problems (Strulik, 2017), contribute to the understanding of addiction as well. Common addiction is a minimally-invasive modification of TORA that helps to reconcile the model's prediction with some stylized facts of addiction and unhealthy consumption.…”

Mobile health technology as a solution to self-control problems: The behavioral impact of COVID-19 contact tracing apps in Japan

“…Those who receive warning messages may update their expectation upward and reduce risky behavior, such as going to a crowded place, while those who do not receive such messages may react in the opposite way. Second, app uptake serves as a commitment or self-disciplining device ( Gul and Pesendorfer, 2001 ; Strulik, 2019 ). If people are aware that they will experience disutility from receiving a warning message—such as the time opportunity costs of consulting with a medical facility and following stay-at-home requirements, fear of the possibility of infection, and stigma from peers ( CNET Japan, 2020 )—after app uptake, they may change their behavior to reduce the possibility of receiving the message, such as increasing time at home.…”

(Un)healthy lifestyles of Sheffield’s residents: Socio-economic and psychosocial deprivation

“…This idea links to Elias's civilised (i.e., educated, affluent) individual as one who is able to control their emotions, impulses, and behaviours in comparison to those who are less civilised (i.e., uneducated and impoverished). In this respect, both between economic and psychological factors that reinforce poverty (Piff, Kraus & Keltner, 2018;Shah, Mullainathan & Shafir, 2012;Strulik, 2019aStrulik, , 2019bVohs, 2013). They therefore complement Strulik's (2019aStrulik's ( , 2019b theory on how trait self-control is embedded in the socioeconomic environment.…”

“…Recently, Strulik (2019aStrulik ( , 2019b researched the concept of trait self-control as a component of life-cycle health and longevity. Here, it has been argued that lower self-control reduces average life by up to five years in combination with unhealthy food consumption, less physical exercise and lower investment in one's own health.…”