July 5, 2002

The True Cost of Smoking

To the Editor:

W. Kip Viscusi's views on smoking raise two issues concerning the meaning of "rationality" and its use in economics ("Calculated Risks," May 31).

First, the "rational addiction" model pioneered by Gary Becker does not capture the most important aspect of addiction, as most of us understand this term: the difficulty an addict encounters in trying to stop a behavior, even though he or she wants to. There is no meaningful notion of rational choice when the result

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