Funds are requested for a conference on analyses of substance abuse and addiction that are based on theoretical and empirical developments in economic science and in behavioral economics within psychological science. Although this work has produced significant advances in knowledge regarding substance abuse and addiction, it has not yet had commensurate impact on the field as a whole. One primary goal of the conference is to promote the dissemination of this knowledge. The conference participants will be a mix of established and young, promising basic, clinical, economic, public health, and public policy scientists and scholars who either work in behavioral economics or economics or who are knowledgeable of this work and of its important implications for understanding substance abuse and addiction. The overall objective of the conference is to create a context for open presentation, discussion, and critique of theoretical, empirical, and applied issues concerning economic and behavioral economic perspectives on addiction, which will facilitate progress in the area.
The specific aims i nclude (a) the articulation of shared and distinctive elements of the four major theories in this area, (b) the development of empirical interpretations of theoretical concepts that have not yet been empirically evaluated, (c) the identification of issues that may provide empirical evaluations of the relative merits of the different theoretical perspectives, (d) the articulation of the full range of applied implications of this body of work for clinical, public health, and public policy initiatives, and to facilitate the translation of these basic science developments into an applied research agenda, and (e) publishing the conference proceedings in a book that will facilitate progress in this area by dissemination in the scholarly, research, and professional substance abuse and addiction communities. The conference will be held from 3/30/01 to 4/1/01 at the Pickwick Hotel and Conference Center in Birmingham, AL, which is adjacent to the campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
