Economics of Risky Health Behaviors

The objective of this SIG is to bring together an international community of researchers to build health economics capacity, and to advance economic research, that contributes to our understanding of the causes of risky health behaviors, the consequences of risky health behaviors, and the effectiveness of policies and interventions to modify and reduce risky health behaviors. The SIG will aim to do this through the VERB seminar, which will be held with monthly frequency during the academic year, and by encouraging collaboration by researchers in different countries, sharing information about research taking place in different countries, and increasing the visibility of early-career scholars and help them improve their research. 

One function of the IHEA Special Interest Group (SIG) on the Economics of Risky Health Behaviors is to conduct the online seminar VERB: the Virtual Seminar on the Economics of Risky Health Behaviors.  VERB allows researchers worldwide to share their research on the economics of health behaviors, including smoking, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, poor diet, physical inactivity, obesity, risky sex, self-harm, and suicide.  A new VERB seminar takes place approximately monthly during the Fall and Spring semesters.

Seminar speakers include both senior scholars and early career researchers. Past senior speakers have been asked to present both individual papers and “keynote lectures” that provide broad overviews of important research areas, which both help educate early-career scholars and help lower the barriers to entry for researchers seeking to enter that area. Recorded keynote talks are available on our SIG’s website and can be used for teaching purposes.

Register for the IHEA SIG on the Economics of Risky Health Behaviors to receive announcements regarding the VERB seminar.