<p>It seems to me that the topic is related to rational addiction: Individual preferences for consuming <span class="math-container">$x_t$</span> are conditioned by their past consumption <span class="math-container">$x_{t-1}$</span>. See for instance:</p>

<p>Becker, G., and Murphy, K. (1988). A Theory of Rational Addiction. Journal of Political Economy, 96(4), 675-700.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-24T16:30:58.810Z
2019-12-25T10:06:01.697Z
2019-12-25T10:06:01.697Z
Bertrand
<p>I am a research master student in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, with the specialization/track Neuroeconomics and have to come up with a master thesis subject soon. I was thinking about gambling addiction and had some ideas of first theoratically explaining it with utility functions that are risk-seeking and use Arrow-Pratt measure of risk aversion. Does anyone have other theories in mind that can contribute to the microeconomical explenation of gambling addiction? Or perhaps someone having a "theory" of their own? I would love to see some ideas from others to get some inspiration!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-30T00:20:09.407Z
Look into discontinous time preferences. David Kreps talks about it
EconJohn
<microeconomics><risk><risk-aversion>
Could anyone here be able to explain gambling addiction and its debt with Microeconomics theory?
Kroko
# Could anyone here be able to explain gambling addiction and its debt with Microeconomics theory?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-12-24)

I am a research master student in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, with the specialization/track Neuroeconomics and have to come up with a master thesis subject soon. I was thinking about gambling addiction and had some ideas of first theoratically explaining it with utility functions that are risk-seeking and use Arrow-Pratt measure of risk aversion. Does anyone have other theories in mind that can contribute to the microeconomical explenation of gambling addiction? Or perhaps someone having a "theory" of their own? I would love to see some ideas from others to get some inspiration!

**Tags:** microeconomics, risk, risk-aversion

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Look into discontinous time preferences. David Kreps talks about it  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-12-24. Score: 2

It seems to me that the topic is related to rational addiction: Individual preferences for consuming $x\_t$ are conditioned by their past consumption $x\_{t-1}$. See for instance:

Becker, G., and Murphy, K. (1988). A Theory of Rational Addiction. Journal of Political Economy, 96(4), 675-700.


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