I suspect that a lot of it has to do with how much control people imagine that they have in economics vs. health.
Economics is just a lot of people making choices. This leads many to imagine that, to fix any economic problem, we just need to get everyone to make the right choices. Indeed, the “get everyone to” part is often elided, and so we imagine that “we just need to make the right choices”. Thus, doing the right thing is naturally imagined as something within our power. Any economic problem can be solved; it’s just a matter of will. There is therefore a bias towards action.
On the other hand, most people accept that much of their health is beyond anyone’s control. They accept, for example, that no one can keep them from dying. Since they acknowledge that some bad health states cannot be solved, they fear putting themselves into such a state. On the other hand, the body usually appears to work just fine without any intervention (e.g., your heart beats without anyone consciously making it do so). There is therefore a bias against action.
I suspect that a lot of it has to do with how much control people imagine that they have in economics vs. health.
Economics is just a lot of people making choices. This leads many to imagine that, to fix any economic problem, we just need to get everyone to make the right choices. Indeed, the “get everyone to” part is often elided, and so we imagine that “we just need to make the right choices”. Thus, doing the right thing is naturally imagined as something within our power. Any economic problem can be solved; it’s just a matter of will. There is therefore a bias towards action.
On the other hand, most people accept that much of their health is beyond anyone’s control. They accept, for example, that no one can keep them from dying. Since they acknowledge that some bad health states cannot be solved, they fear putting themselves into such a state. On the other hand, the body usually appears to work just fine without any intervention (e.g., your heart beats without anyone consciously making it do so). There is therefore a bias against action.