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1st World Congress on Logic, Chance, and Money

Speaker: Travis Lybbert, Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Davis

Economists have long dismissed gambling as an irrational behavior that preys on individuals’ limited understanding of basic statistics and probability. In this view, government-run lotteries that fund public education are an ironic tax on those with poor probabilistic intuition, often from lower socioeconomic classes and educational backgrounds.

The rise of behavioral economics as a field offers alternatives to strict rationality assumptions and has legitimized empirical economic research related to gambling. Several studies in low and middle income countries reveal the prevalence of gambling among the poor.

This talk will review this evidence and highlight the specific case of lottery play in Haiti where many individuals routinely wager 25% or more of their (limited) daily income. This case illustrates how understanding individual motivations can open new possibilities to leverage passion for the lottery as a gateway for financial inclusion.