The authors develop a theory of rational addiction in which rationality means a consistent plan to maximize utility over time. Strong addiction to a good requires a big effect of past consumption of the good on current consumption. Such powerful complementarities cause some steady states to be...

The authors model a consumer's efforts to reduce the discount on future utilities. Their analysis shows how wealth, mortality, addictions, uncertainty, and other variables affect the degree of time preference. In addition to working out many implications of the model, the authors discuss...

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface to the Enlarged Edition -- Introduction -- 1. Single-Person Households -- 2. Division of Labor in Households and Families 30 Supplement: Human Capital, Effort, and the Sexual Division of Labor -- 3. Polygamy and Monogamy in Marriage Markets -- 4. Assortative...

Frontmatter -- Preface -- Contents -- PART I. PERSONAL CAPITAL -- 1. Preferences and Values -- 2. De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum -- 3. A Theory of Rational Addiction -- 4. Rational Addiction and the Effect of Price on Consumption -- 5. An Empirical Analysis of Cigarette Addiction -- 6. Habits,...