Self-control failures, as judged by themselves

Citation

Lades LK & Delaney L (2024) Self-control failures, as judged by themselves. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11, Art. No.: 1351. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03845-1

Abstract
The existence of self-control failures is often used to legitimize public policy interventions. The argument is that reducing self-control failures can make people better off, as judged by themselves. However, there is only scarce evidence on the frequency and welfare costs of self-control failures. This paper presents a survey method that allows us to measure self-control failures in everyday life and to identify their welfare costs in terms of associations with experienced subjective well-being. We present novel survey evidence using this method and discuss its implications for behavioural welfare economics and behavioural public policy.

Journal
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications: Volume 11

• Published Version