IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/halshs-00331284.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The notion of addiction in economics and its challenge to the theory of rational choice
[La notion d'addiction en économie : la théorie du choix rationnel à l'épreuve]

Author

Listed:
  • Sophie Massin

    (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the economic literature from the last thirty years in the field of addiction and to study its relation to the theory of rational choice (TRC). We show that the application of the TRC to addictive behaviors appeared in a context of reciprocity of stakes, i.e. the promotion of this theoretical framework and the explanation of this a priori irrational behavior. It allowed to emphasize the major influence of economic determinants such as prices, which were previously excluded from the analysis. Recent developments of the economic theory of addiction, via behavioral economics in particular, lead however to operate a distinction between revealed preferences and normative preferences and limit the use of the TRC in a normative perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Sophie Massin, 2008. "The notion of addiction in economics and its challenge to the theory of rational choice [La notion d'addiction en économie : la théorie du choix rationnel à l'épreuve]," Post-Print halshs-00331284, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00331284
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00331284
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00331284/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker & Casey B. Mulligan, 1997. "The Endogenous Determination of Time Preference," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 112(3), pages 729-758.
    2. Rabin, Matthew, 2002. "A perspective on psychology and economics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(4-5), pages 657-685, May.
    3. Jonathan Gruber & Botond Köszegi, 2001. "Is Addiction "Rational"? Theory and Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 116(4), pages 1261-1303.
    4. Thaler, Richard H & Shefrin, H M, 1981. "An Economic Theory of Self-Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(2), pages 392-406, April.
    5. Goldbaum, David, 2000. "Life Cycle Consumption of a Harmful and Addictive Good," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(3), pages 458-469, July.
    6. Chaloupka, Frank, 1991. "Rational Addictive Behavior and Cigarette Smoking," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(4), pages 722-742, August.
    7. Henry Saffer & Melanie Wakefield & Yvonne Terry-McElrath, 2007. "The Effect of Nicotine Replacement Therapy Advertising on Youth Smoking," NBER Working Papers 12964, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Suranovic, Steven M. & Goldfarb, Robert S. & Leonard, Thomas C., 1999. "An economic theory of cigarette addiction," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 1-29, January.
    9. Ole-Jørgen Skog, 2005. "Choice, Social Interaction and Addiction: The Social Roots of Addictive Preferences," Advances in Health Economics and Health Services Research, in: Substance Use: Individual Behaviour, Social Interactions, Markets and Politics, pages 145-171, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    10. Philippe Mongin, 1984. "Modèle rationnel ou modèle économique de la rationalité ?," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 35(1), pages 9-64.
    11. Pashardes, Panos, 1986. "Myopic and Forward Looking Behavior in a Dynamic Demand System," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 27(2), pages 387-397, June.
    12. Lemennicier Bertrand, 1992. "Prohibition De La Drogue : Diagnostic Et Solutions," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 3(4), pages 1-30, December.
    13. Bretteville-Jensen, A. L., 1999. "Addiction and discounting1," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 393-407, August.
    14. Valerie Lechene & Jéróme Adda, 2001. "Smoking and Endogenous Mortality: Does Heterogeneity in Life Expectancy Explain Differences in Smoking Behavior?," Economics Series Working Papers 77, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    15. Showalter, Mark H., 1999. "Firm behavior in a market with addiction: the case of cigarettes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 409-427, August.
    16. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "A Theory of Rational Addiction," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 675-700, August.
    17. Pollak, Robert A, 1970. "Habit Formation and Dynamic Demand Functions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(4), pages 745-763, Part I Ju.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sophie Massin, 2011. "La notion d'addiction en économie : La théorie du choix rationnel à l'épreuve," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 121(5), pages 713-750.
    2. Anne Bretteville-Jensen, 2006. "Drug Demand – Initiation, Continuation and Quitting," De Economist, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 491-516, December.
    3. repec:zbw:rwirep:0064 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Timothy J. Richards & Paul M. Patterson & Abebayehu Tegene, 2007. "Obesity And Nutrient Consumption: A Rational Addiction?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 25(3), pages 309-324, July.
    5. David Aristei & Luca Pieroni, 2010. "Habits, Complementarities and Heterogeneity in Alcohol and Tobacco Demand: A Multivariate Dynamic Model," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(4), pages 428-457, August.
    6. Göhlmann, Silja & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2008. "Smoking in Germany: Stylized Facts, Behavioral Models, and Health Policy," Ruhr Economic Papers 64, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    7. Silja Göhlmann & Christoph M. Schmidt, 2008. "Smoking in Germany: Stylized Facts, Behavioral Models, and Health Policy," Ruhr Economic Papers 0064, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    8. Grignon, Michel, 2009. "An empirical investigation of heterogeneity in time preferences and smoking behaviors," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 739-751, October.
    9. Hammar, Henrik & Carlsson, Fredrik, 2001. "Smokers' Decisions To Quit Smoking," Working Papers in Economics 59, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    10. Ciccarelli, Carlo & Giamboni, Luigi & Waldmann, Robert, 2007. "Cigarette smoking, pregnancy, forward looking behavior and dynamic inconsistency," MPRA Paper 8878, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Fernando S. Machado & Rajiv K. Sinha, 2007. "Smoking Cessation: A Model of Planned vs. Actual Behavior for Time-Inconsistent Consumers," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 834-850, 11-12.
    12. Richards, Timothy J. & Hamilton, Stephen F., 2012. "Obesity and Hyperbolic Discounting: An Experimental Analysis," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 37(2), pages 1-18, August.
    13. Robert Goldfarb & Thomas Leonard & Steven Suranovic, 2001. "Are rival theories of smoking underdetermined?," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 229-251.
    14. Steven M. Suranovic, 2005. "An Economic Model of Youth Smoking: Tax and Welfare Effects," HEW 0511003, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Poutvaara, Panu & Siemers, Lars-H. R., 2008. "Smoking and social interaction," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1503-1515, December.
    16. Lippai, László, 2010. "Fogyasztói önkontrollt igénylő döntések empirikus vizsgálata [An empirical examination of consumer decisions requiring self-control]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 700-714.
    17. O'Donoghue, Ted & Rabin, Matthew, 2002. "Addiction and Present-Biased Preferences," Working Papers 02-10, Cornell University, Center for Analytic Economics.
    18. Kan, Kamhon, 2007. "Cigarette smoking and self-control," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 61-81, January.
    19. Federico Perali & Luca Piccoli, 2022. "An Extended Theory of Rational Addiction," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(15), pages 1-20, July.
    20. Alamar Benjamin & Glantz Stanton A., 2006. "Modeling Addictive Consumption as an Infectious Disease," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-24, March.
    21. Ole Rogeberg, 2003. "Preferences, Rationality and Welfare in Becker's Extended Utility Approach," Rationality and Society, , vol. 15(3), pages 283-323, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    addiction; rational choice; habit formation; intertemporal choices; revealed preferences; choix rationel; formation d'habitude; choix intertemporels; préférences révélées;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00331284. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.