报告题目：Rational Addiction under Uncertainty
报告人：Prof. Zaifu Yang，the University of York
报告时间：2019年10月11日下午2：00-4：00
报告地点：中国科学院大学中关村校区6号楼H309
Abstract: We develop a new model of addictive behavior that takes as a starting point the classic rational addiction model of Becker and Murphy, but incorporates uncertainty. We model uncertainty through the Wiener stochastic process. This process is used to capture both random events such as exposure to harmful substances, anxiety, tensions and environmental cues which can precipitate and exacerbate addictions, and those sober and thought-provoking episodes that discourage addictions. We derive closed-form formulas for optimal addictive consumption and capital trajectories and examine their global and local properties. Our theory provides plausible explanations of several typical patterns of addictive behavior and has also novel policy implications.
Bio: Professor Zaifu Yang has held a chair in economics at the University of York since 2010. He is the founding editor of the Journal of Mechanism and Institution Design created in 2015 and the founding chairman of the Society for the Promotion of Mechanism and Institution Design, an independent learned society, as a registered charity body in the United Kingdom (no 1174289) since 2017.
Professor Yang has worked in the fields of economics and applied mathematics, in particular, such as economic theory, mechanism/market design, game theory, fixed point theory and optimisation theory. He has published in a variety of peer-reviewed academic journals such as Econometrica, Games and Economic Behaviour, International Journal of Game Theory, Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Journal of Fixed Point Theory and Applications, Mathematical Programming, Mathematics of Operations Research, SIAM Journal on Control and Optimisation, SIAM Journal on Optimisation, etc. His current research projects include dynamic auction design with multiple items, matching theory, random decentralised market processes, mechanism/market design, and growth theory.
