Behavioral economic analysis of pigeons' token accumulation and reinforcer demand in a laboratory-based token economy

The present study examined pigeons' token accumulation and food reinforcer demand within a token economy using a behavioral economic approach. Six pigeons were exposed to a token reinforcement procedure, in which responses on a token-production key produced tokens. When at least one token was earned, an exchange-production key became simultaneously available, and at this juncture, pigeons chose between earning tokens or producing the exchange period during which accumulated tokens could be exchanged for food reinforcers. Token accumulation was examined as a function of five economically relevant experimental variables: the token-production ratio (labor productivity), exchange-production ratio (transaction costs), token-exchange price, the number of free tokens (nonlabor income), and token-reinforcement magnitude (wage). Results revealed that token accumulation varied systematically with the token-production ratio, the exchange-production ratio, and token-reinforcement magnitude but was less affected by the token-exchange price and the number of free tokens. In addition, consistent with behavioral economic models of demand, overall food consumption decreased consistently under higher response costs regardless of whether the costs were defined in terms of tokens, exchange periods, or food. Collectively, these findings show how token reinforcement systems apply to everyday economic behaviors such as saving, spending, and demand, providing a bridge between reinforcement theory and behavioral economics.