This article argues that repeated criminal misconduct, at least in some areas, has the characteristics of a habit or addiction. Curiosity or a transient attraction can lead an offender to commit her first crime. This first infraction will give her a sense of how much she enjoyed it, and whether...

Warum wird ein Achtjähriger zum Serieneinbrecher? Warum haut eine Neunjährige von zu Haus ab? Warum geben Kinder auf, bevor ihr Leben richtig begonnen hat? Huberta von Voss hat viele Familien in ganz Deutschland aufgesucht, um zu erfahren, was in Kindern vorgeht, die inmitten von Wohlstand in...

This paper discusses consequences of changing economic conditions and job characteristics for individual behaviour by means of addiction. The central assumption is that unwanted high consumption of health damaging goods leads to an income loss. If an individual has decided on his consumption...

Quarterly data of magazine circulation are used to analyse the consumption behaviour of the readers of German popular magazines in a panel framework using OLS,2SLS and generalized method of moments techniques,in order to test the rational addiction hypothesis in respect with goods without any...

A large literature examines the addictive properties of such behaviors as smoking, drinking alcohol and eating. We argue that for some people addictive behavior may apply to a much more central aspect of economic life: working. Workaholism is subject to the same concerns about the individual as...

Dynamic modeling of demand for goods whose cumulated stocks enter an intertemporal utility function as latent variables, is discussed. The issues include: how represent addiction, how handle unobserved expectations and changing plans, how deal with 'dynamic inconsistency'? Arguments are put...

Drug consumption is a voluntary decision based on preexisting situational contexts, social events, personal traits and cultural circumstances. Because of this, drug consumption is not pathological but rather normal and ubiquitous. It is only as a result of persecution by the authorities of...