Preemptive abstinence

For sophisticates, unlike naifs, Pi can influence behavior when unhooked, since sophisticates correctly predict how they will behave when hooked, and this prediction can influence current behavior. For pi 0, sophisticates of course always hit once they start hitting, just like naifs.22 When unhooked, however, sophisticates anticipate—and disapprove of—their future behavior resulting from hitting on a weekend and therefore never hit. Note that sophisticates consume less of the addictive product than TCs. We call such an outcome preemptive abstinence, and tautologically this abstinence is not ideal It would be preferable to drink moderately, but sophisticates recognize that their true choice is between total abstinence and total addiction, and their choice of abstinence is preferable to the total addiction to which naifs succumb.23... 

A second noteworthy aspect of this example, related to the preemptive abstinence, concerns comparative statics on p. For sophisticates, lowering p decreases consumption—it can move sophisticates From consuming in moderation to not consuming at all. This contrasts with both naif behavior in the consumption-induced myopia model and either naif or sophisticated behavior in the unitary myopia model. In both those cases, people always consume more on average in... 

Such preemptive abstinence does not require consumption-induced myopia. Indeed, preemptive abstinence can arise in nonstationary models of the type discussed earlier. 

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