Alcoholics Anonymous encourages its members, people who have difficulties to control their alcohol consumption, to refrain from drinking on the basis of one day at the time. Meanwhile, we know that one more or one less drink will not determine whether a person becomes addicted. What are the incentives facing this person…
Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Game Theory and Infinite Player Sets
1.2 Addictions Modeled as Infinite Coordination Games and Tail Events
1.3 Previous Research on Addiction
2. Definitions and Preliminaries
2.1 The General Setting
2.2 Standard Concepts from Game Theory
2.3 Kolmogorov’s Zero-One Law and Tail Events
3. Addiction – Self-Defeating Behavior?
3.1 Game 1
3.2 In Pursuit of Utility Enhancement
4. Worse May be Best and Better May be Worst
4.1 Game 2
4.2 Different Stages of Consumption
5. Harmful or Beneficial Addiction?
5.1 Game 3
5.2 Playing the Piano and Smoking Cigarettes
6. The Impossibility of Rational Choice
6.1 Game 4
6.2 Cyclical Consumption
7. Analysis
7.1 Self-Imposed Rules to Limit the Number of Available Strategies
7.2 An Outsider Limits the Number ………
——-
Author: Dilan Ölcer
Source: Stockholm School of Economics