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?”
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