The science of attraction
03 May 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of love and marriage, economics of media and culture, health economics Tags: dating market
Why Do Black Markets for Marijuana Still Exist in Colorado? @PeterDunneMP
24 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - USA Tags: black markets, economics of prohibition, marijuana decriminalisation, tax evasion
Why Is Marijuana Legal in Some States and Not Others?
24 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economics of crime, economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics Tags: federalism, war on drugs
#MorganFoundation errors about @nzinitiative’s Health of the State – part 2
23 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: anti-market bias, do gooders, meddlesome preferences, Morgan Foundation, nanny state, political psychology, rational rationality
E-cigarettes as a way of reducing obesity?
23 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics Tags: E-cigarettes, economics of obesity, economics of smoking, expressive voting, meddlesome preferences, nanny state, rational irrationality
One of the many interesting things that Maori Party MP Marama Fox said at a panel discussion for the launch of the New Zealand Initiative’s Health of the State report was that the Maori women she knew who smoked did so out of stress relief.
It is also well known that there is a weight gain after stopping smoking. If people cannot smoke because of higher taxes but still need to have an outlet for their stress, they look elsewhere and seek comfort in food.
Source: Weight Gain After Quitting Smoking – Quit Smoking Community.
This is before you consider the general pleasure seeking aspect of smoking. Some people find smoking pleasurable; I find it disgusting.
This suggests to me that the restrictions on E-cigarettes are the worst of both worlds. If people are going to smoke, you may as well let them have access to a technology that is safer.
Instead, the do-gooders prefer to put an extra bullet in the chamber as smokers play Russian roulette.
#MorganFoundation errors about @nzinitiative’s Health of the State – part 1
22 Apr 2016 3 Comments
in economics of information, economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Aaron Director, alcohol regulation, economics of obesity, economics of prohibition, economics of smoking, meddlesome preferences, Morgan Foundation, nanny state
The Greens have joined that Morgan Foundation in playing the man rather than the ball on the recently published report of the New Zealand Initiative on sin taxes. Green Party health spokesperson Kevin Hague said:
The New Zealand Initiative cares more about junk-food barons’ bottom lines than it cares about Kiwis who are getting sick and dying because of obesity-related illnesses
The Morgan Foundation was just as keen to argue that their opponents on sin taxes are both ignorant and steeped in moral turpitude as a way of avoiding substantive argument:
The New Zealand Initiative are not interested in reducing obesity, or preventing the looming diabetes crisis where 1 in 3 Kiwis will have the disease. They make no attempt to understand the causes, and don’t propose any way to deal with these issues…
Is there no room for honest disagreement and different views on the ability of further government intervention to be a net benefit? As Aaron Director said:
Laissez-faire is no more than a slogan in defence of the proposition that every extension of state activity should be examined under the presumption of error.
One of the specific claims by the Morgan Foundation that seems to be in error is:
In fact, the report seems devoid of any research outside a narrow economic focus. The food industry has funded an enormous amount of psychological research on how to influence people to eat more junk food through packaging, advertising, product placement etc, much of which is publicly available, but which the New Zealand Institute has roundly ignored. Ironic, given that they funded by the same organisations that funded this psychological research.
The Food industry’s own research shows our choices are hugely influenced by the environment that surrounds us, but the New Zealand Institute conveniently prefers to cling to the oversimplification that we are all rational economic units – known as homo economicus.
The report of the New Zealand Initiative has a nice discussion of the limitations of rationality which did not weigh as heavily as it should in the critique by the Morgan Foundation part of which is in the snapshot below:
Source: Jenesa Jeram, The Health of the State, The New Zealand Initiative ( April 2016, p.10).
18.1% of all children born on this planet in 1960 died before they could celebrate their fifth birthday
18 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, health economics Tags: infant mortality, The Great Escape
The payoff from drinking organic juice
14 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, health economics Tags: food snobs, organic food, quackery
How long have you got in Europe when you are waiting for God?
13 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in health economics Tags: European Union, healthy life expectancies, life expectancies, The Great Escape
The contradictions of decriminalising marijuana and banning tobacco
12 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics Tags: economics are smoking, Left-wing hypocrisy, marijuana decriminalisation
Healthcare Triage: Antibiotics and Resistance | The Incidental Economist
12 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, health economics Tags: The Great Escape
A century ago, the top three causes of death were infectious diseases. More than half of all people dying in the United States died because of germs.
Source: Healthcare Triage: Antibiotics and Resistance | The Incidental Economist
Global obesity is on the rise
10 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in health economics Tags: economics of obesity
Dukes cigarettes: Norman Gunston – Australian TV commercial
09 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in economics, health economics, television Tags: economics of smoking, Norman Gunston
Somehow this commercial was supposed to make smoking more appealing.
Prevalence of diabetes among New Zealand adults
07 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in health economics Tags: diabetes
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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