Finally! After a couple of months on hiatus, EconPop is back and this time host Andrew Heaton explores “The Economics of Demolition Man,” a 1993 sci-fi motion picture starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes.
In the film, the government attempts to curb people’s bad habits by banning anything that is deemed harmful to one’s health and morale. Of course, a black market ensues, a place where consumers can purchase rodent burgers and cigarettes. This is what happens when the government tries to regulate your lifestyle and tell you what to eat, what to think and what to do.
Essentially, government paternalism leads to various negative side effects. Look at the prohibition era. Alcohol was banned but then there were gangsters, violence and innocent people labeled a criminal even if they weren’t violent. Indeed, this led to excellent Warner Bros. gangster pictures with Humphrey Bogart or James Cagney, but that’s another topic for another day.
Today, we see this with the drug market. A marijuana trafficker, no matter how small, could receive an excessive mandatory minimum sentence.
I must say the episode’s Subjective Value starring Henry Hazlitt was the best ever.
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