One of the interesting parts of chapter three that stuck out to me was the part about the government involvement with smoking and Social security. Ordinarily, one would say that a smoker is causing negative side effects towards the population of non smokers. Wheelan says that smokers actually provide a benefit to non smokers. Due to the fact that the average smoker will most likely die about seven years earlier than a non smoker, they won't be able to collect their Social Security and private pension fund benefits. This means that non smokers would get more out of the situation than smokers. An example that Wheelan gave was about the Czech Republic. The report showed that premature deaths from smoking saved the Czech Republic about "$28 million each year in pension and old age housing benefits." I think this example of how smokers affect non smokers is very interesting and can be compared to other issues that intertwine government with economy and how externalities fit into each situation.
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