Objective:

To examine delay discounting of monetary and cigarette rewards in smokers, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify the neurobiological basis for the established pattern of impulsive decision-making in smokers.

Past empirical studies have demonstrated significantly greater delay discounting of money in smokers, or greater preference for smaller amounts of money immediately compared to larger delayed amounts of money.

Objective:

To investigate the extent to which men and women are averse to deceiving other people.

A standard economic assumption is that people tell the truth only when it is selfishly advantageous to do so. However, recent work by Uri Gneezy shows that subjects are more likely to make a selfish choice when they choose monetary outcomes for themselves and other subjects than they are to lie to obtain that same selfish outcome.

We now know many of the immediate and lingering consequences of the Great Recession. Record home foreclosures, underwater mortgages, historic long-term unemployment rates, declining median income, a lagging economy and the threat of a double-dip recession are all painfully familiar. Although much of the public and academic interest has centered on these obvious consequences, there may well be more subtle, but still important and far-reaching effects that are not yet recognized.