Re: theWatt Podcast 77

I think research about whether higher cigarette taxes reduces smoking suggests otherwise. This is a field full of crap science unfortunately and I don't have the time to fully wade in, but I just glanced at the abstracts of several peer-reviewed articles saying higher taxes decrease smoking.

As for the CAFE standards and big cars, the automotive companies may claim that they are just responding to the market, but let me make a few points.

1) They don't have massive advertising budgets because they like to subsidize ad agencies. They shape consumer desires.

2) Larger vehicles were not demanded by the public, they were hyped by the companies because they have a little more to build but are sold for much higher prices which means a larger per-car profit.

3) They are still making money on the smaller cars so the larger cars are not subsidizing the smaller ones.

However, you could still say rich people are subsidizing the car industry because the rest of us buy used cars when our old ones break down.

PS - Ben, your CAPTCHAs are killin' me! =-)