Word: habitability
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...American capitalism." He speculated on the cost of going into battle with Iraq when the rest of the Administration was downplaying war talk and the President was preaching fiscal discipline. O'Neill repeatedly made pronouncements that were far too candid for the markets' delicate constitution, and he had a habit of speaking dismissively of proposals--including the plan for economic stimulus through tax cuts--even as the White House was feverishly pushing them...
...come home after a night of boozing and bar hopping, you won’t have to smell like a chain smoker. The Boston Health Commissioners voted last week to ban smoking in all restaurants, bars and nightclubs. This change is an important step in helping curb an awful habit; tobacco-related illnesses are the leading cause of death in the United States. In addition, this new rule will ensure that all Bostonians, not just those in downtown office buildings, will have the right to work in a smoke-free environment...
...clever, similar, but currently unfulfilling argument used to justify high taxes on cigarettes is that smokers will have greater incentive to quit if their habit costs them more money, and since they’ll be better off cigarette-free in the long run, a tax discouraging smoking actually makes smokers happier. This argument also relies on the government-knows-best assumption, along with the idea that since smoking is addictive and people get hooked when they are young, they never make a conscious rational decision to smoke. While some individuals might be happier as tax-induced former smokers, second...
...entirely by the smoker, such as increased rates of lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease, are often borne by society as publicly funded medical costs. This is an example of what economists call a negative consumption externality; the smoker doesn’t pay the entire cost of his habit because he might not cover his increased medical expenses through higher private insurance premiums. The classic solution to this negative externality is to impose a tax that erases the difference between the private cost to the smoker and the social cost to society of his smoking; a tax like this...
Unfortunately, it is doubtful that governments could accurately measure the magnitude of the tax necessary for smokers to exactly internalize the excess social cost of their habit. The debate within the economics profession on smoking’s health externality is far from settled. Besides, even if governments could accurately calculate the cost of the externality, they would almost certainly decide to increase the magnitude of the tax hike to deter smoking through punishing smokers rather than relating the tax’s magnitude to the externality cost. New York City’s decision to raise taxes by almost...