赌博:一個上癮角度的解釋

賭博受到抨擊最多的就是它與生俱來的負的外部性。在現實中,這種外部性主要是通過問題賭徒和病態賭徒而傳遞到社會的。而問题賭徒和病態賭徒的一個特徵就是賭博上癮。因此從上癮的角度理解賭博有助於我們找出一些有效方法來幫助一些陷入精神困境的賭徒。本文重點從經濟學的角度對上癮進行了研究,並介紹了圍繞理性上癮模型所展開的爭論,以及理性上癮模型當前發展的兩個方向。由此,我們也認識到了時間偏好率、過度自信、拖延、自我控制等因素封上癮所產生的影響。在文章最後我們還從理性上癮模型中推論出一個戒除賭癮的方法,造就是"突然戒斷法"。

Gambling as an Addictive Behavior

Criticisms of gambling focus on its innate negative externality. In reality, this kind of externality is transferred to the society by problem gamblers and pathological gamblers, who are characterized by addiction. So, if we take gambling as an addictive behavior, we may find many valid methods to help such cornered gamblers. The topic of this paper focuses on addiction from an economic point of view. The main content is about the rational addiction model and its arguments. From the study, we learn that the influences on addiction stem from the rate of time preference, overconfidence, delay and self-control. From the logic of the rational addiction model, we introduce the 'cold-turkey' phenomenon as the main method in dealing with gambling addiction.