Vice

In Part 1, I introduced the concept of rational addiction and argued that failure to account for it causes us to underestimate the benefits that other people receive from certain activities, which may lead us to believe that there is something unnaturally wrong about their high levels of consumption.Then in Part 2, I explored the ideas of a supply-side version of rational … [Read more...] about Addicted to Harlotry — Part 3: Capital Investment

In Part 1, I introduced the concept of rational addiction and speculated that failure to account for it causes us to underestimate the benefits that other people receive from certain activities, which leads us to believe that there is something unnaturally wrong about their high levels of consumption.A recent example of this is NRA President Wayne LaPierre's diatribe … [Read more...] about The Harlot’s Addiction — Part 2: Difficult Jobs

A few weeks ago, Maggie McNeill, the Honest Courtesan, wrote about the use and abuse of the word addiction: The belief that people can become “addicted” to things that do not produce chemical dependency (food, sex, the internet, etc) is fallacious in two ways.  The first, which we have discussed before, is a confusion of the concept of addiction (physical and psychological … [Read more...] about The Harlot’s Addiction — Part 1: Rational Addiction

Radley Balko comes face to face with the Eternal Question About Politicians: Are they stupid enough to believe what they say? Or is it that they think you're stupid enough to believe what they say? … [Read more...] about The Eternal Question