Addiction, time preference, and intrusive thoughts.

I’m having a hard time finding time to write new blog posts lately, so I’m going to start scavenging things I’ve written informally.

I was talking with someone the other day about whether it’s useful to model addiction as a rational behavior.  Now, I’m torn as to whether to even use the word “rational” in this way, because the word also has normal-English-language connotations beyond its narrow use by economists and philosophers.  So maybe the better way to ask the question – a way that makes it clear we’re using technical jargon – as “Can we model addiction through time preference?”