Buying rounds leads to binge drinking?

LONDON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- U.K. pub-goers should stop buying rounds of drinks and set up a tab for their party to cut down on binge drinking, a behavioral researcher says.

Chicago University professor Richard Thaler, an adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron on behavioral economics, suggests groups of three or more should set up a tab to be split at the end of the evening to prevent each member of a party feeling obligated to buy a round for everyone, the Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

"It is just a tradition and it has this unintended consequence" of binge drinking, Thaler said of the custom of buying rounds.

"So if I was giving advice, I would say if there were more than three of you I would run a tab," he said. "These are the kinds of things that policy makers and publicans should be thinking about."

Thaler is author of the book "Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth And Happiness," which has heavily influenced the Prime Minister, the Daily Telegraph said.

Cameron has set up a "behavioral insight team" to find how to change public behaviors without increasing taxes or creating penalties.