This study analyzes gambling addiction in Taiwan by using lottery data from 1978 to 1984. Two main conclusions can be drawn from the empirical evidence of this study. First, lottery play is strongly addictive in Taiwan, and the results are consistent with the theory of rational addiction. Second, the estimated short-run and long-run price elasticities are -0.136, and -1.463, respectively. Because consumers are very likely rational, the concerns of public policy toward gambling should focus on the negative externalities rather than on its addictive nature.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.