Bootleggers, Baptists, and E-Cigarettes
Bruce Yandle
Clemson University; PERC - Property and Environment Research Center
Roger E. Meiners
University of Texas at Arlington
Jonathan H. Adler
Case Western Reserve University School of Law; PERC - Property and Environment Research Center
Andrew P. Morriss
January 1, 2015
Texas A&M School of Law; PERC - Property and Environment Research Center; George Mason University - Mercatus Center
Case Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2015-3
Abstract:
Electronic cigarettes pose competitive threats to the makers of traditional cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapies such as nicotine gum and patches. It is no surprise that these producers, and the governments that earn revenue from tobacco taxes, respond by seeking controls on the competition. Similarly, despite evidence that e-cigarettes may be beneficial in helping tobacco smokers quit, assorted public health researchers and groups have attacked e-cigarettes as a health danger. This episode allows application of the Bootlegger and Baptist theory of regulation. Diverse groups, not necessarily working together, and with different motives, share in a goal of limiting how e-cigarettes enter the market. Those who profit from the current tobacco market structure and some health advocates plead for politicians and regulators to restrict the new product.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 52
Keywords: Keywords: tobacco regulation, electronic cigarettes, Baptist and bootlegger, rent-seeking, health regulation
JEL Classification: K23, K32
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Date posted: January 31, 2015
source: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=2557691
Bruce Yandle
Clemson University; PERC - Property and Environment Research Center
Roger E. Meiners
University of Texas at Arlington
Jonathan H. Adler
Case Western Reserve University School of Law; PERC - Property and Environment Research Center
Andrew P. Morriss
January 1, 2015
Texas A&M School of Law; PERC - Property and Environment Research Center; George Mason University - Mercatus Center
Case Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2015-3
Abstract:
Electronic cigarettes pose competitive threats to the makers of traditional cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapies such as nicotine gum and patches. It is no surprise that these producers, and the governments that earn revenue from tobacco taxes, respond by seeking controls on the competition. Similarly, despite evidence that e-cigarettes may be beneficial in helping tobacco smokers quit, assorted public health researchers and groups have attacked e-cigarettes as a health danger. This episode allows application of the Bootlegger and Baptist theory of regulation. Diverse groups, not necessarily working together, and with different motives, share in a goal of limiting how e-cigarettes enter the market. Those who profit from the current tobacco market structure and some health advocates plead for politicians and regulators to restrict the new product.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 52
Keywords: Keywords: tobacco regulation, electronic cigarettes, Baptist and bootlegger, rent-seeking, health regulation
JEL Classification: K23, K32
Open PDF in Browser Download This Paper
Date posted: January 31, 2015
source: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=2557691
