The typical gambler loses money and yet continues to gamble. Research in orthodox and behavioral economics, psychology, sociology, and medicine offers a wide range of possible explanations. In their new article “How Rational is Gambling?” (recently published in the Journal of Economic Surveys),  Prof. Dr. Stefan Winter and Robin Stetzka have developed a structured overview of the possible explanations.

The evidence is organized according to the degree of rationality assumed and/or found in the studies. This approach makes it possible to integrate research findings from very different fields into a unified framework. Gambling patterns are so widely dispersed that there is no satisfactory one-size-fits-all explanation. The results suggest that the full spectrum from rationality to highly destructive irrationality can be found in the gambler population.

Click » here to download the open access article.