| 来源类型 | Discussion paper |
| 规范类型 | 论文 |
| 来源ID | DP2153 |
| DP2153 Coping with Technological Progress: The Role of Ability in Making Inequality so Persistent | |
| Daniel Tsiddon; Yona Rubinstein | |
| 发表日期 | 1999-05-31 |
| 出版年 | 1999 |
| 语种 | 英语 |
| 摘要 | We analyse the major economic issues raised by the 1997 Tobacco Resolution and the ensuing proposed legislation that were intended to settle tobacco litigation in the United States. By settling litigation largely in return for tax increases, the Resolution was a superb example of a "win-win" deal. The taxes would cost the companies about $1 billion per year, but yield the government about $13 billion per year, and allow the lawyers to claim fees based on hundreds of billions in "damages". Only consumers, in whose name many of the lawsuits were filed, lost out. Though the strategy seems brilliant for the parties involved, the execution was less intelligent. We show that alternative taxes would be considerably superior to those proposed, and explain problems with the damage payments required from the firms, and the legal protections offered to them. We argue that the legislation was not particularly focused on youth smoking, despite the rhetoric. However, contrary to conventional wisdom, youth smokers are not especially valuable to the companies, so marketing restrictions are a sensible part of any deal. The individual state settlements set very dangerous examples which could open up unprecedented opportunities for collusion throughout the economy, and the multistate settlement of November 1998 is equally flawed. The fees proposed for the lawyers (around $15 billion) and the equally remarkable proposed payoff for Liggett (perhaps $400 million annually, for a company with a prior market value of about $100 million) also set terrible examples. We conclude with some views about how public policy might do better. |
| 主题 | Industrial Organization ; Public Economics |
| 关键词 | Cigarettes Tobacco |
| URL | https://cepr.org/publications/dp2153 |
| 来源智库 | Centre for Economic Policy Research (United Kingdom) |
| 资源类型 | 智库出版物 |
| 条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.153/handle/2XGU8XDN/531262 |
| 推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | Daniel Tsiddon,Yona Rubinstein. DP2153 Coping with Technological Progress: The Role of Ability in Making Inequality so Persistent. 1999. |
| 条目包含的文件 | 条目无相关文件。 | |||||
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