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Apologies for the awful message format... > The Economics of Immediate Gratification > > BP Amoco and LSE Events Lecture > > Date: Tuesday 27 February 2001 > Time: 6.30pm > Venue: Old Theatre > Speaker: Professor Matthew Rabin > > Conventional economic theory assumes that people have zero > self-control problems, and only pursue > activities whose benefits outweigh their costs. This flies in > the face of common sense, millennia of folk > wisdom and decades of psychological research establishing > that people are prone to give excess weight to > their immediate gratification. Professor Rabin will talk > about recent efforts to improve the realism of economic > theory by developing models for self-control problems. While > concentrating on simple mathematical > illustrations and general principles, he will discuss the > potential for applications to such realms as consumer > purchases, savings, addiction and procrastination. > > Matthew Rabin is Professor of Economics at the University of > California, Berkeley. He is an economic theorist, > and a leading researcher in the new field of 'behavioural > economics', which seeks to integrate greater > psychological realism into mainstream economics. He is > currently working on a book intended as a guide for > economists to psychology and behavioural economics. > > This event is free and open to all, no ticket is required. > > For enquiries, please call the LSE Events phoneline on 0207 > 955 6043 >