The quantitative economon model as a novel computational tool for addiction research

An economon is a dyadic economic unit of two participants who exchange mutually reinforcing commodities (e.g., addictive substances for money). A human economon often consists of a buyer providing money to a supplier, while the supplier reciprocally provides some commodity to the buyer. Here, we develop the quantitative economon model to characterize transactional behavior between individual buyers and suppliers. According to the model, transactions between a buyer and supplier depend on their respective economic demand for the commodities exchanged. Additionally, the model assumes that demand for a given commodity will fluctuate across sequential transaction opportunities. When transactions succeed, commodities are exchanged and consumed, and demand declines on the subsequent encounter due to satiation. When transactions fail, commodities are not exchanged, and demand increases on the subsequent encounter due to deprivation. Using a computational implementation of the quantitative economon model, we simulated transaction patterns maintained by four hypothetical situations with high or low levels of deprivation crossed with high or low levels of satiation (i.e., a 2 × 2 matrix of conditions). Simulations revealed distinct patterns of transactional behavior depending on the specific levels of satiation and deprivation. When deprivation levels were high and satiation levels were low, simulated transaction rates were characteristic of the high consumption rates observed with addictive commodities such as drugs. In sum, the quantitative economon model provides a framework for modeling, investigating, and predicting patterns of human transactional behavior, applicable to the trajectory of substance use disorders at an individual and group level in the context of real-world markets. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).