CONSUMPTION‐LEISURE TRADEOFFS IN PIGEONS: EFFECTS OF CHANGING MARGINAL WAGE RATES BY VARYING AMOUNT OF REINFORCEMENT

  • Leonard Green
  • , John H. Kagel
  • , Raymond C. Battalio

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Pigeons' rates of responding and food reinforcement under simple random‐ratio schedules were compared with those obtained under comparable ratio schedules in which free food deliveries were added, but the duration of each food delivery was halved. These ratio‐with‐free‐food schedules were constructed so that, were the pigeon to maintain the same rate of responding as it had under the simple ratio schedule, total food obtained (earned plus free) would remain unchanged. However, any reduction in responding would reduce total food consumption below that under the simple ratio schedule. These “compensated wage decreases” led to decreases in responding and decreases in food consumption, as predicted by an economic model of labor supply. Moreover, the reductions in responding increased as the ratio value increased (i.e., as wage rates decreased). Pigeons, therefore, substituted leisure for consumption. The relationship between these procedures and negative‐income‐tax programs is noted. 1987 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)17-28
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
Volume47
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1987

Keywords

  • amount of reinforcement
  • economics
  • key peck
  • labor supply
  • pigeons
  • ratio schedules
  • substitution effects

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