American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
Is Lottery Gambling Addictive?
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 2,
no. 3, August 2010
(pp. 90–110)
Abstract
We present an empirical test for the addictiveness of lottery gambling that exploits an exogenous shock to local market consumption of lottery gambling. It uses the sale of a winning jackpot ticket in a zip code as an instrument for present consumption and tests for a causal relationship between present and future consumption. This test estimates the time path of persistence nonparametrically. Data from the Texas State Lottery suggests that after 6 months, roughly half of the initial increase in lottery consumption is maintained. After 18 months, roughly 40 percent of the initial shock persists, though estimates become less precise. (JEL D12, H27, H71)Citation
Guryan, Jonathan, and Melissa S. Kearney. 2010. "Is Lottery Gambling Addictive?" American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2 (3): 90–110. DOI: 10.1257/pol.2.3.90Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
- H27 Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenues: Other Sources of Revenue
- H71 State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
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