A Primer of Neoclassical (Traditional) and Behavioral Economic Principles for Organ Transplantation: Part 1.

TLDR: The tools of neoclassical economic theory and their application to organ transplantation are discussed and the discussion is expanded to theories in behavioral economics that may enrich the understanding.

Abstract: The process of organ transplantation is the culmination of many unique and differentiated individual decisions. Examples of individual decisions on the patient side are the decision to be placed on an organ waiting list, the surgeon’s decision to select desired organ characteristics [ie, Extended Criteria Donor (ECD) organ], the decision to accept or reject an organ that is offered and the type of posttransplant care. Examples on the donor side are the decision to be placed on the donor registry, the next-of-kin donation decisions and the donation decisions of living donors. Developing a better understanding of these individual decisions will facilitate the creation of a more efficient organ transplantation process. A number of neoclassical and behavioral economic principles can be used to address this need. This primer serves as an illustration of how applying these economic principles can be used to advance our understanding of the organ transplant process. The foundation of neoclassical, or traditional, economic theory is expected utility theory. However, a number of behavioral anomalies (ie, Allias Paradox) have arisen which cannot be explained by expected utility theory and the field of behavioral economics has arisen to address these behavioral anomalies (i.e., prospect theory). In our discussion, we will first discuss the tools of neoclassical economic theory and their application to organ transplantation and then expand the discussion to theories in behavioral economics that may enrich our understanding.