2,237 research outputs found
Efficiency in Multi-objective Games
In a multi-objective game, each agent individually evaluates each overall
action-profile on multiple objectives. I generalize the price of anarchy to
multi-objective games and provide a polynomial-time algorithm to assess it.
This work asserts that policies on tobacco promote a higher economic
efficiency
Back to the future? Habits and rational addiction in UK tobacco and alcohol demand.
This paper develops a dynamic modeling approach for the Almost Ideal Demand System, which is consistent with the rational addiction theory. The forward-looking hypothesis is combined with that of convex adjustment costs in the presence of non-stationary cointegrated variables. Estimation is based on a two-step strategy based on cointegration and GMM techniques. Results on UK tobacco and alcohol demand support the adopted specifications and highlight the degree of complementarity between addictive goods.
Rational Addiction, Cointegration and Tobacco and Alcohol Demand
In this paper we embed the Almost Ideal Demand System within a dynamic disequilibrium model, and derive a set of interrelated Euler equations which characterizes optimal consumption allocations under adjustment costs. It is argued that when applied to alcohol and tobacco expenditure, the proposed specification features the rational addiction hypothesis, as both forward-looking rational behaviour and habit formation are explicitly accounted for. The suggested estimation approach controls for potential nonstationarity in the underlying time-series. Results relative to UK tobacco and alcohol demand support the adopted specifications and highlight the degree of complementarity between addictive goods.Cointegration, Forward-looking behaviour, Rational Addiction, VAR model Cointegrazione, Comportamento forward-looking, Dipendenza Razionale, Modelli VAR
Addiction and Present-Biased Preferences
We investigate the role that self-control problems--modeled as time-inconsistent, present-biased preferences--and a person's awareness of those problems might play in leading people to develop and maintain harmful addictions. Present-biased preferences create a tendency to over-consume addictive products, and awareness of future selfcontrol problems can mitigate or exacerbate this over-consumption, depending on the environment. Our central concern is the welfare consequences of this over-consumption. Our analysis suggests that for realistic environments self-control problems are a plausible source of severely harmful addictions only in conjunction with some unawareness of future self-control problems.
Quantum Virasoro algebra with central charge c=1 on the horizon of a 2D-Rindler spacetime
Using the holographic machinery built up in a previous work, we show that the
hidden SL(2,R) symmetry of a scalar quantum field propagating in a Rindler
spacetime admits an enlargement in terms of a unitary positive-energy
representation of Virasoro algebra, with central charge c=1, defined in the
Fock representation. The Virasoro algebra of operators gets a manifest
geometrical meaning if referring to the holographically associated QFT on the
horizon: It is nothing but a representation of the algebra of vector fields
defined on the horizon equipped with a point at infinity. All that happens
provided the Virasoro ground energy h vanishes and, in that case, the Rindler
Hamiltonian is associated with a certain Virasoro generator. If a suitable
regularization procedure is employed, for h=1/2, the ground state of that
generator corresponds to thermal states when examined in the Rindler wedge,
taking the expectation value with respect to Rindler time. This state has
inverse temperature 1/(2beta), where beta is the parameter used to define the
initial SL(2,R) unitary representation. (As a consequence the restriction of
Minkowski vacuum to Rindler wedge is obtained by fixing h=1/2 and 2beta=beta_U,
the latter being Unruh's inverse temperature). Finally, under Wick rotation in
Rindler time, the pair of QF theories which are built up on the future and past
horizon defines a proper two-dimensional conformal quantum field theory on a
cylinder.Comment: 35 pages, 1 figure .eps, LaTeX 2e, minor changes, accepted for
publication in J.Math.Phy
Rational Addiction, Cointegration and Tobacco and Alcohol Demand
In this paper we embed the Almost Ideal Demand System within a dynamic disequilibrium model, and derive a set of interrelated Euler equations which characterizes optimal consumption allocations under adjustment costs. It is argued that when applied to alcohol and tobacco expenditure, the proposed specification features the rational addiction hypothesis, as both forward-looking rational behaviour and habit formation are explicitly accounted for. The suggested estimation approach controls for potential nonstationarity in the underlying time-series. Results relative to UK tobacco and alcohol demand support the adopted specifications and highlight the degree of complementarity between addictive goods
Crime and Drugs : An Economic Approach
We present a model which ties together rational drug consumption, taxation, crime and other drug-related externalities. Drug control policy is addressed using an optimal tax framework. Consumption, possession and production of a drug may be prohibited, legalized or decriminalized. In all regimes illicit production of a drug may take place and drug-related crime occurs. We show that illicit drug production, the price elasticity of demand for a drug, the addictive nature of a drug, the effectiveness of drug enforcement strategies, and income distribution all influence optimal (second best) policy. Prohibition is contrasted with decriminalization and legalization, and where legalization yields a higher welfare than prohibition we show that this can be associated with greater drug-related crime and more drug addiction. The model is discussed in the context of US National Drug Control Strategy.Crime ; decriminalization ; drugs ; externalities ; legalization ; optimal tax ; prohibition
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