IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/scandj/v100y1998i3p643-661.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Addicts Behave Rationally?

Author

Listed:
  • Ernst Fehr
  • Peter K. Zych

Abstract

The theory of rational addiction assumes that addicts' behavior is fully rational. Common sense and psychological introspection suggest, however, that addictive behavior is irrational. Without knowledge of the addicts' preferences this dispute cannot be resolved. This paper reports the results of an experiment in which addictive preferences were induced. It turns out that ‘addicts’ consume systematically too much compared to the optimal consumption decision. We explain this systematic excess consumption in terms of the psychologically salient features of addictive goods.

Suggested Citation

  • Ernst Fehr & Peter K. Zych, 1998. "Do Addicts Behave Rationally?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(3), pages 643-661, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:scandj:v:100:y:1998:i:3:p:643-661
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-9442.00127
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9442.00127
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-9442.00127?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George Loewenstein & Richard H Thaler, 2003. "Anomalies: Intertemporal Choice," Levine's Working Paper Archive 618897000000000784, David K. Levine.
    2. Smith, Vernon L, 1976. "Experimental Economics: Induced Value Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(2), pages 274-279, May.
    3. Loewenstein, George & Thaler, Richard H, 1989. "Intertemporal Choice," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 181-193, Fall.
    4. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Enrica Carbone & Gerardo Infante, 2014. "Comparing behavior under risk and under ambiguity in a lifecycle experiment," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 77(3), pages 313-322, October.
    2. Maria Isabel Clímaco & Luís Moura Ramos, 2004. "Questioning Rationality: The case for risk consumption," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 20, pages 177-191, December.
    3. Klaus Abbink & Heike Hennig-Schmidt, 2006. "Neutral versus loaded instructions in a bribery experiment," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 9(2), pages 103-121, June.
    4. Fehr, Ernst & Zych, Peter K., 2008. "Intertemporal Choice under Habit Formation," Handbook of Experimental Economics Results, in: Charles R. Plott & Vernon L. Smith (ed.), Handbook of Experimental Economics Results, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 98, pages 923-928, Elsevier.
    5. John Duffy & Yue Li, 2016. "Lifecycle Consumption Under Different Income Profiles: Experimental Evidence," Working Papers 161702, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics.
    6. Blondel, Serge & Loheac, Youenn & Rinaudo, Stephane, 2007. "Rationality and drug use: An experimental approach," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 643-658, May.
    7. Smith, Trenton G. & Tasnadi, Attila, 2007. "A theory of natural addiction," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 316-344, May.
    8. Clark, Andrew & Etile, Fabrice, 2002. "Do health changes affect smoking? Evidence from British panel data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 533-562, July.
    9. Vivian Lei & Charles N. Noussair, 2002. "An Experimental Test of an Optimal Growth Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(3), pages 549-570, June.
    10. Ole Rogeberg, 2003. "Preferences, Rationality and Welfare in Becker's Extended Utility Approach," Rationality and Society, , vol. 15(3), pages 283-323, August.
    11. Grabner, Christian & Hahn, Heiko & Leopold-Wildburger, Ulrike & Pickl, Stefan, 2009. "Analyzing the sustainability of harvesting behavior and the relationship to personality traits in a simulated Lotka-Volterra biotope," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 193(3), pages 761-767, March.
    12. Carbone, Enrica & Duffy, John, 2014. "Lifecycle consumption plans, social learning and external habits: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 413-427.
    13. Koehler, Derek J. & Langstaff, Jesse & Liu, Wu-Qi, 2015. "A simulated financial savings task for studying consumption and retirement decision making," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 89-97.
    14. 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.
    15. Kay Blaufus & Michael Milde, 2021. "Tax Misperceptions and the Effect of Informational Tax Nudges on Retirement Savings," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(8), pages 5011-5031, August.
    16. Duffy, John & Li, Yue, 2019. "Lifecycle consumption under different income profiles: Evidence and theory," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 74-94.
    17. John Duffy & Enrica Carbone, 2013. "Lifecycle Consumption Plans, Social Learning and External Habits: Experimental Evidence," Working Paper 513, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, revised Sep 2013.
    18. Blaufus, Kay & Milde, Michael, 2018. "Learning to save tax-efficiently: Tax misperceptions and the effect of informational tax nudges on retirement savings," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 225, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    19. Takanori Ida, 2014. "A quasi-hyperbolic discounting approach to smoking behavior," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-11, December.
    20. Apesteguia, Jose, 2001. "A Characterization of Melioration in Game Theoretic Frameworks," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers 26/2001, University of Bonn, Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE).
    21. Florina Salaghe & Dimitra Papadovasilaki & Federico Guerrero & James Sundali, 2020. "Temptation and Retirement Accounts: A Story of Time Inconsistency and Bounded Rationality," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 6(3), pages 173-198, April.
    22. Jacobs Martin, 2016. "Accounting for Changing Tastes: Approaches to Explaining Unstable Individual Preferences," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 67(2), pages 121-183, August.
    23. Takanori Ida, 2012. "Impatience and Immediacy: A Quasi-Hyperbolic Discounting Approach to Smoking Behavior," Discussion papers e-11-010, Graduate School of Economics Project Center, Kyoto University.

    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. De Waegenaere, Anja & Wakker, Peter P., 2001. "Nonmonotonic Choquet integrals," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 45-60, September.
    2. André Lapied & Olivier Renault, 2012. "An Investigation of Time Consistency for Subjective Discontinued Utility," Working Papers halshs-00793174, HAL.
    3. 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.
    4. Yang, Bijou & Lester, David, 1995. "New directions for economics," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 433-446.
    5. Vital Anderhub & Werner Gäuth & Wieland Mäuller & Martin Strobel, 2000. "An Experimental Analysis of Intertemporal Allocation Behavior," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 3(2), pages 137-152, October.
    6. Andrew E. Clark & Ed Diener & Yannis Georgellis & Richard E. Lucas, 2008. "Lags And Leads in Life Satisfaction: a Test of the Baseline Hypothesis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(529), pages 222-243, June.
    7. Leiser, David & Azar, Ofer H. & Hadar, Liat, 2008. "Psychological construal of economic behavior," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 762-776, November.
    8. Andrew Caplin & John Leahy, 2004. "The Social Discount Rate," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1257-1268, December.
    9. Massimo Egidi, 2002. "Biases in human behavior," CEEL Working Papers 0205, Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    10. 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.
    11. Wigniolle, Bertrand, 2013. "Fertility in the absence of self-control," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 71-86.
    12. Glenn Harrison & Morten Lau & Elisabet Rutstrom, 2005. "Dynamic consistency in denmark: A longitudinal field experiment," Artefactual Field Experiments 00060, The Field Experiments Website.
    13. Pedro H. Albuquerque, 2003. "A practical log-linear aggregation method with examples: heterogeneous income growth in the USA," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(6), pages 665-678.
    14. Jouini, Elyès & Marin, Jean-Michel & Napp, Clotilde, 2010. "Discounting and divergence of opinion," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 830-859, March.
    15. Colin Camerer, 1998. "Bounded Rationality in Individual Decision Making," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 1(2), pages 163-183, September.
    16. Ted O'Donoghue & Matthew Rabin, 2001. "Risky Behavior among Youths: Some Issues from Behavioral Economics," NBER Chapters, in: Risky Behavior among Youths: An Economic Analysis, pages 29-68, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Wahlund, Richard & Gunnarsson, Jonas, 1996. "Mental discounting and financial strategies," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 709-730, December.
    18. Carbone, Enrica & Infante, Gerardo, 2015. "Are groups better planners than individuals? An experimental analysis," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 112-119.
    19. Matthew Rabin & Ted O'Donoghue, 1999. "Doing It Now or Later," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 103-124, March.
    20. Nicolao Bonini & Massimo Egidi, 1999. "Cognitive traps in individual and organizational behavior : some empirical evidence," Revue d'Économie Industrielle, Programme National Persée, vol. 88(1), pages 153-186.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior

    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:bla:scandj:v:100:y:1998:i:3:p:643-661. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9442 .

    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.