[ExI] Rationality and Irrationality

[Joshua Cowan]

Snip:

Kevin Freels asks:

>Has there been any research that shows that this method actually reduces 
>the number of smokers? Or do they just alter other parts of their lives to 
>compensate?

I'm not sure what you mean by your second question but, yes, there's been 
public health research that shows raising the price of smokes decreases the 
number of smokers. This effect is not population wide, as you might imagine, 
those most price sensitive and who have been smoking the fewest number of 
years are most likely to quit when faced with a price hike. In other words, 
this approach is most successful with adolescents (especially when combined 
with peer pressure memes) and least successful with high income long-time 
smokers. Needless to say, raising the tax on cigs also enlarges the black 
market but overall, the number of smokers do decrease.

Josh