Préférences et perceptions face au risque : quels enseignements pour des applications à la santé ?

This article presents a state of the art of theoretical and methodological advances in behavioral economics for applied economics, with a focus on health issues. Starting from the expected utility model as the normative model of rational choice, we present how behavioral economics, on the one hand, and cognitive psychology on the other, have enriched the analysis of individual risk-taking. In particular, we investigate how behavioral economics generalizes the subjectivity of risk through a more general view of "luck". We illustrate our point with the empirical measurements of behavioral economics models applied to health issues. By separating the respective roles of the utilities associated with the consequences, the possible transformation of probabilities and probabilistic judgments, such approaches appear particularly suited to contexts where individual and collective uncertainties regarding health outcomes prevail. Finally, we consider the extent to which a whole classic literature in cognitive psychology on uncertainty perceptions provides useful hints on the complexity of belief formation.