Stuff reports: A Government ministry has taken the time to threaten legal action against Stuff, all over a photo of a 45-year-old magazine used in a Stuff Quiz. On June 26, question five of the Stuff morning trivia quiz asked who appeared on the debut cover of Playboy magazine. To accompany the question, the quiz featured an archive image of a person…
One public servant we could survive without
One public servant we could survive without
03 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: economics of smoking
The tobacco black market in NZ in 2025
24 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: black markets, economics of smoking
I’ve been sent a copy of a report by FTI Consulting on the tobacco black market in NZ. It is referenced here by Retail NZ. It is 63 pages long and full of data. It is produced for the three main tobacco companies in NZ (not surprisingly they are against their product being stolen). Some…
The tobacco black market in NZ in 2025
Bigger than Ben Hur
16 May 2026 1 Comment
in Austrian economics, economics of regulation, health economics, industrial organisation, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand Tags: black markets, economics of smoking
Radio NZ reports: Deakin University associate criminology professor Dr James Martin told RNZ the Australian approach had relied on enforcement to suppress the black market. “This has been really ineffective,” he said. “We’ve got between 50-60 percent of all tobacco and nearly all vaping products in Australia now come from criminal suppliers, and it’s generated…
Bigger than Ben Hur
Waking up to the reality of tobacco’s black market
25 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - Australia Tags: economics of smoking
There’s a website called Tobacco in Australia: Facts and Issues which is written by a few anti-smoking activist-academics. It provides lots of tobacco-related statistics and a bit of editorialising. The website has a whole section devoted to criticising “industry estimates of the extent of illicit trade in tobacco”. It is an article of faith in tobakko…
Waking up to the reality of tobacco’s black market
The black market crisis in tobacco
16 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: economics of smoking
A comprehensive article in the SST about the rise in black market tobacco sales in NZ. Some extracts: This is again a reminder that prohibition doesn’t work, and neither does trying to tax something so much to prohibit it.
The black market crisis in tobacco
Irony: quitters are making tobacco companies rich
01 Nov 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, managerial economics Tags: economics of smoking
ANALYSIS from the Economist: When lots of people smoked, there were many “price-elastic” consumers. In plain English, they were sensitive to increases in the cost of a cigarette. As more people have quit, however, only the most committed smokers are still puffing. Companies have responded by raising prices at an ever-quicker pace. MY COMMENT: In…
Irony: quitters are making tobacco companies rich
No smoking
02 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of information, economics of regulation, health economics, industrial organisation Tags: economics of smoking
Smoking
27 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, health economics Tags: economics of smoking
Another gender gap
28 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, health economics Tags: economics of smoking, gender gap
Another big tobacco black market bust
05 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: black markets, economics of smoking
NewstalkZB reports: Police have restrained more than $2.5 million in assets, including four properties in Gisborne, after a discovery of undeclared tobacco was intercepted at the border. It comes after Customs intercepted 110kg of loose tobacco and more than 230,000 cigarettes – approximately 10,000 packets – concealed in Chinese tea packets in November last year, bound for residential and […]
Another big tobacco black market bust
Nanny state
16 May 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, public economics Tags: economics of smoking
Good old days
12 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in health economics, liberalism Tags: economics of smoking
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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