ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a brief overview of the traditional versus behavioral economics approaches to studying the determinants of health behaviors in developing countries. It presents a synopsis of the evidence base for behavioral economics studies to improve health decision-making that takes place in a developing country setting. The chapter presents some of the evidence on the most common and successful behavioral economics interventions, many based on nudges, to address various health behaviors and that take place in developing country settings. Though financial incentives such as conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs are classified as tools informed by traditional economics above, the incentives they offer may address present bias that prevents such health behaviors from occurring in the first place. Though present bias is the most common behavioral explanation for why poor households underinvest in health products or savings, some suggest that limited attention may also play a role.
