Tabaquismo, Auto-control y Economía del Comportamiento

Interesante artículo del blog Yale Scientific

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The Economics of Self Control
"...While addictions are often considered medical or psychological conditions, smoking is driven particularly by economic fac-tors. The tobacco industry wants to make as large a profit as possible, and therefore companies will do anything to increase revenue and the number of consumers. For example, cigarette companies are known for using cartoons to target children, as well as increasing nicotine content to make cigarettes more addictive...

...Neo-classical economic theory assumes that once a person makes a decision, he or she will stick to it. In reality, however, there is a “present bias,” the tendency to continue the routines of the present instead of making changes. Closely related to the present bias is the idea of time inconsistency: a person may want to not be smoking in a month but might want that cigarette now. In other words, Sindelar explains that every person has “two minds. One is you want to quit and the other is you want to consume.” While many smokers say they are going to quit, “the best time to start is always tomorrow.” The present bias, however, often means tomorrow never comes...

Determining the responsiveness of low self-control groups to tobacco taxation is noteworthy from a public health policy standpoint. If research shows that these individuals respond positively to such a sin tax, then there is a strong political argument for implementation of the tax. But if the low willpower group is largely unresponsive, taxation could be detrimental to this already disadvantaged population. Because cigarette use is already highly correlated to those with lower incomes and education levels, taxation could have a severely negative effect on a group of people who are already struggling....