Substance-related cross-commodity purchase tasks: A systematic review.

Abstract

Objective: In the context of behavioral economics, drug use is a choice to which an individual may allocate responding despite the presence of alternative response possibilities. To examine the demand for a drug in an environment in which other drugs or nondrug alternatives are present, researchers often use a crosscommodity purchase task. These tasks allow participants to make choices across several reinforcers at varied unit prices and may elucidate behavioral economic patterns of substitutability and complementarity. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of cross-commodity purchase task studies with human participants. Method: Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, we screened 46 full-text studies (from 456 total records obtained from PsycINFO and PubMed databases and reference list search), yielding a final sample of 35 studies. Results: The drug category with the largest number of studies assessed was tobacco and nicotine products. The most consistent economic relationships found were substitutability of traditional cigarettes by e-cigarettes and e-liquid, and both legal and illegal cannabis for the other; however, other substitutable and complementary relationships were observed (e.g., substitution of food for cigarettes, a complementary relationship between alcohol and cannabis). Conclusions: We discuss the implications of the results of this review from a treatment and harm reduction standpoint, highlight areas for future research particularly among drug categories with few studies and evaluating ecological validity of hypothetical measures, and make best practice recommendations for future cross-commodity drug-related purchase task research.

Reliability and validity of behavioral‐economic measures: A review and synthesis of discounting and demand

“…All studies included in this review assessed single-commodity discounting or demand for a single commodity. Given the increasing interest in cross-commodity discounting (see Pritschmann et al, 2021) and demand (see Weinsztok et al, 2023), additional research is needed to demonstrate the reliability and validity of these measures.…”

Matching, behavioral economics, and teleological behaviorism: Final cause analysis of substance use and health behavior

“…Behavioral allocation to drugs and alcohol typically occurs in complex choice environments with an abundance of potential alternative reinforcers. An emerging area of translational research uses "cross-commodity" purchase tasks to investigate the effects of the availability of alternative reinforcers on demand for alcohol or drugs (Weinsztok et al, 2022). In a typical cross-commodity task, researchers vary the cost of the substance (e.g., alcoholic beverages) while holding the alternative (e.g., nonalcoholic beverages) constant at a fixed price and then assess demand for the substance as its price increases.…”

“…In a typical cross‐commodity task, researchers vary the cost of the substance (e.g., alcoholic beverages) while holding the alternative (e.g., nonalcoholic beverages) constant at a fixed price and then assess demand for the substance as its price increases. Results of a systematic review of these studies showed an array of orderly substitution or complementary relations between the alternative rewards (Weinsztok et al, 2022). A few studies have explored cross‐commodity relations between substances and nonsubstance alternatives (Martinetti et al, 2019; Murphy et al, 2016; Ortelli & Martinetti, 2021), with results generally demonstrating some element of substitutability.…”

“…These simulation study findings have parallels in laboratory studies that found environmental enrichment via the introduction of nondrug alternative activities and commodities reduced drug self‐administration (Carroll, 1996; Stoops et al, 2012). They have opened new avenues of inquiry into commodities that function as substitutes or complements to substance use (Weinsztok et al, 2022) and to reinforcement‐based treatments that attempt to help individuals develop the skills and motivation necessary to access substance‐free rewards in their environment (Murphy et al, 2019).…”

Adaptation of commodity purchase tasks to identify substitutable substance-free alternative activities for alcohol use.

“…Using crosscommodity purchase tasks, researchers can derive whether one commodity functions as a substitute for, complement for, or independently of another commodity. In this way, cross-commodity purchase tasks may be more ecologically valid relative to singlecommodity purchase tasks as they explore choices between multiple response options, which is more akin to the natural environment (Weinsztok et al, 2023b). Cross-commodity purchase tasks have been used to identify the relationship between tobacco cigarettes and alternative nicotine products via the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace (Quisenberry et al, 2016), between different drugs such as alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine (Cole et al, 2008;Petry, 2001), legal versus illegal cannabis (M. Amlung et al, 2019), and the relationship between drug and nondrug commodities such as food and cigarettes (C. M. Murphy et al, 2016).…”