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Environmental Economics And The Social Cost Of Smoking

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  • DWIGHT R. LEE

Abstract

A widely prevailing assumption is that taxing and regulating smoking are justified on efficiency grounds since smokers impose a significant cost on others. Supposedly, the same economic analysis that has been used to justify taxing and regulating environmental pollution also applies to smoking. But two serious problems undermine the efficiency argument for taxation and regulation to internalize the cost of smoking. First, the largest external cost that smoking supposedly generates does not exist. Second, even if smoking does generate an external cost in the form of environmental tobacco smoke, one cannot justify either taxing or regulating smoking when one properly applies the principles of environmental economics.

Suggested Citation

  • Dwight R. Lee, 1991. "Environmental Economics And The Social Cost Of Smoking," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 9(1), pages 83-92, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:9:y:1991:i:1:p:83-92
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.1991.tb00321.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. R. H. Coase, 2013. "The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 837-877.
    2. Stoddart, Greg L. & Labelle, Roberta J. & Barer, Morris L. & Evans, Robert G., 1986. "Tobacco taxes and health care costs : Do Canadian smokers pay their way?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 63-80, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Edgar K. Browning, 1999. "The Myth of Fiscal Externalities," Public Finance Review, , vol. 27(1), pages 3-18, January.
    2. Dennis Cooley, 2007. "Deaf by Design: A Business Argument Against Engineering Disabled Offspring," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 71(2), pages 209-227, March.
    3. J. Dunham & ML. Marlow, 2000. "Smoking laws and their differential effects on restaurants, bars, and taverns," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 18(3), pages 326-333, July.

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