The Behavioral Economics of Dieting

Despite documented short-term success, dieting has very low success rates; most dieters regain weight within three to five years. Why do people fail to stick to their diet goals? One answer is that they have self-control problems in the form of a present-biased preference. From a prior perspective, they want to behave relatively patiently, but as the moment of action approaches, they want to behave relatively impatiently.

The field of behavioral economics blends insights of psychology and economi…