Systematic review of health policy and behavioral economics: A neglected point in health promotion

Health policymakers use a variety of policy tools. These policies are either based on external factors or are based on paternal considerations; people may need to have help in the selection of items that may be regretted about them in the future. However, recent research on behavioral economics shows that major decision‑making mistakes are not only limited to vulnerable groups but also are ubiquitous and systematic. The purpose of this study was on health policy making with a behavioral economics approach in health promotion.

The eligible studies were obtained from Medline (PubMed), Web of Science, and Scopus databases. The search strategy uses a combination of keywords in the titles. The keywords of behavioral economics along with the keyword of health have been used to find related articles.

After deleting duplicate articles, a total of 38 articles were identified. After reviewing the title and abstract, 13 studies were omitted because they did not meet the inclusion criteria. Ten articles were removed from the found articles due to the unavailability of the full text and four articles were excluded because their method was quantitative. Finally, a total of 11 articles were eligible for including this review study.

Recent research on behavioral economics shows that decision‑making errors are not limited to vulnerable groups but are ubiquitous and systematic. Forgotten income or negligible income is very high and is reasonably explained by transaction costs. Educational interventions often have little effect and do not benefit from basic cost‑benefit tests. In addition, the seemingly insignificant aspects of choice‑frameworks and assumptions‑often have a profound effect on behavior.