Expected-utility theory can explain why people who are terminally ill often feel a surge in wellbeing and hope to live longer when they have the option of legally ending their lives. Behavioral theories, however, may better answer larger questions such as why so few terminally-ill people bother...

The typical living will is an awfully imperfect instrument for doing what it is supposed to do. This paper is one economist's attempt to make sense of living will. The foray takes one deep into the domain of mainstream economics. The paper concludes that, despite its shortcomings, living will...