Unintended consequences of the smoking ban
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Print
Email
Save this entry to my Favorites
Any government intervention in the market can give us cause to consider the Law of Unintended Consequences where a policy decision or action leads to fresh actions which might not have been considered by those putting a policy in place. Some of these knock-on effects can be positive, a windfall that enhances the impact of the original decision. Others can be negative leading to fears of government failure and a deepening of an existing problem or market failure. The smoking ban seems to be providing a rich seam of examples of such unintended blow-back effects.
There is growing evidence that the smoking ban has had a major impact on cigarette consumption among certain groups. But some of the side effects are starting to become apparent. One is the rising mountain of litter created by the millions of cigarette stubs casually tossed aside by smokers forced out into the open air because of the ban on smoking in ‘enclosed areas’. This BBC news audio-visual clip provides a vivid and nifty illustration of the problem.
A second negative unintended consequence has been a surge in demand for and use of open-air patio heaters, widely regarded as a very inefficient way of providing heating for patrons of pubs, clubs and restaurants and which are very energy intensive contributing to C02 emissions. A typical pub patio heater emits more than 4 tonnes of C02 emissions per year, more than the average car. Some superstores now refuse to sell patio heaters. here is another BBC news audio-visual clip on the heated topic of patio warmers.
Can you think of other side-effects of the smoking ban that might come under the banner of ‘unintended consequences’?
Euro MPs back patio heaters ban
Print
Email
ECONOMICS TEACHER RESOURCE NEWSLETTER
Join over 4,000 other Economics Teachers in the UK and around the world who receive the tutor2u Economics Resource Email newsletter. Get special offers, first news of latest resources, teaching ideas, conferences and workshops.
Recent Threads on the Economics Teacher Discussion Forums:
Posts in:
General Economics Teaching
Shifts in the Labour Market
Good hotel in London for school trip
Competitive Markets
Diminishing Returns
Complementary goods - HELP Please!
URgent Help Needed
Equilibrium concept
The price of life
Extended Project Qualification
Economics course structure
Comments
One consequence, perhaps not completely unintended, is the growing control of government over people’s everyday lives. You control people by controlling their pleasures--look at the millenia-old attempts by various power structures to control sexuality. The antismoking, antidrinking, antifat nanny state arrives at the same time as the security state with its surveillance cameras and proposals for implanted chips. None of it adds up to anything positive.
Posted by on 02/10 at 06:54 PM
I have heard stories about nightclubs pumping air freshener into their venues to mask the smell of sweat which tobacco used to cover up. Obviously there are many other examples of complements/substitutes who have been affected like this.
Posted by on 02/11 at 06:48 AM
Most Popular Topic Tags on the Economics Blog
recession,
demand,
economics,
unemployment,
price,
prices,
inflation,
investment,
costs,
profit,
downturn,
trade,
supply,
debt,
confidence,
euro,
gdp,
competition,
employment,
capacity,
production,
risk,
china,
oil,
incentives,
exports,
housing,
expectations,
pay,
manufacturing,
sterling,
food,
profits,
property,
tutor2u,
mortgage,
globalisation,
banks,
revision,
slowdown,
borrowing,
usa,
retailers,
emissions,
airlines,
innovation,
deflation,
dollar,
supermarkets,
entrepreneur,
efficiency,
monopsony,
elasticity,
aqa,
welfare,
consumption,
economist,
productivity,
saving,
keynes,
opec,
wealth,
depression,
moodle,
depreciation,
jobs,
credit crunch,
competitiveness,
cars,
google,
stocks,
infrastructure,
economic cycle,
environmental,
strategy,
tim harford,
externalities,
carbon,
vle,
subsidy,
evaluation,
management,
eu,
losses,
protectionism,
spare capacity,
inequality,
environment,
poverty,
monopoly,
bank of england,
construction,
behavioural,
macroeconomics,
output gap,
budget deficit,
carbon trading,
steel,
wages,
japan,
commodities,
oligopoly,
currencies,
imports,
bbc,
stagflation,
contestable,
cpi,
agflation,
farming,
newsnight,
choices,
skills,
regulation,
survey,
taxes,
government failure,
itunes,
minimum wage,
lse,
climate change,
paul mason,
population,
intervention,
aviation,
keynes society,
fiscal stimulus,
amazon,
single market,
pricing,
dan ariely,
cartel,
eton college,
pollution,
interest rates,
shareholder,
london,
rationality,
redundancies,
market failure,
rpi,
mpc,
shipping,
behavioural economics,
germany,
robert peston,
india,
rsa,
reputation,
facebook,
income elasticity,
stakeholders,
current account,
brazil,
coffee,
savings,
microsoft,
crowding out,
monetary policy,
barriers to entry,
collapse,
nationalisation,
multiplier effect,
suppliers,
economies of scale,
price discrimination,
development,
uk economy,
quiz,
quantitative easing,
currency,
apple,
surplus,
tesco,
free,
labour market,
behaviour,
opportunity cost,
tragedy of the commons,
open source,
vat,
smoking,
poverty trap,
ireland,
growth,
merger,
edinburgh,
ownership,
discrimination,
global,
cost benefit analysis,
oecd,
supply chain,
shareholders,
scarcity,
balance of payments,
petrol,
liquidity,
duopoly,
iphone,
starbucks,
trade deficit,
happiness,
etonomics,
scrappage,
human capital,
capital,
subsidies,
immigration,
eurozone,
takeover,
exploitation,
ecb,
paradox of thrift,
taxation,
wiki,
advertising,
iceland,
utility,
wants,
labour force survey,
cost of living,
brand,
poland,
blog,
speculation,
foreign exchange,
spain,
indirect tax,
northern rock,
roger bootle,
ocr economics,
robert frank,
animal spirits,
heathrow,
hbos,
hotels,
freight,
federal reserve,
kaletsky,
price war,
information failure,
crude oil,
gini coefficient,
transport,
creative destruction,
leverage,
sony,
us economy,
All tags
