Eco 225: The Economics of Sin
Lewis Davis
SSCI 211D, x8395, davisl@union.edu
Office Hours: 2-5 Tuesdays and by appointment
Overview:
This class is about the economics of sinful activities. As a working definition, sin will refer to
goods and services that people demand but are subject to public moral condemnation and
sometimes legal prohibitions. In particular, we will consider the markets for transplantable
organs, addictive substances, intoxicants and sex. Because of moral concerns, these markets are
characterized by extreme forms of government intervention, generally either prohibition or high
tax rates, designed to limit their scope. We will consider the moral arguments used to justify
regulating these markets and use economics to analyze the impacts, intended and otherwise, of
the current regulations as well as potential changes. In doing so, we will be asking how
economics and ethics interact and whether, or to what degree, markets can be used to further
moral objectives.
Course Materials:
There is no text for the course. Most of the readings are available on blackboard. In addition,
you should purchase a copy of Miron, Drug War Crimes, which will be available at the
bookstore soon. Background readings are marked *** and are not required. Most background
readings are posted on blackboard, but several are from books that I have put on reserve in the
library: Frank and Bernanke, Principles of Microeconomics, 3rd Edition, and MacCoun and
Reuter, Drug War Heresies.
Evaluation:
Midterm Exam
Reaction Papers
Paper Topics
Rough Drafts
Final Drafts
Oct. 20th
Every discussion class
Sept. 29th
Oct. 27th
Nov. 21st
30%
35%
5%
20%
10%
Reaction papers: These are due at the beginning of every discussion class. They should be 1
page, double spaced in 12 point type. I will drop the lowest two grades.
Research Paper: This should run 10-15 pages.
Paper Topics: One page describing your research topic and a working bibliography.
Rough Draft: Ten to twelve pages of text and a bibliography.
Final Draft: Like the rough draft but not rough.
Absences: You get two excused absences. I will count off 1 point for each additional absence.
Electronics : I don’t allow laptops in my classes. Please remember to turn off your cell phones.
Course Outline
I.
Introduction to the Course (2 classes)
a.
Sept. 10: Overview of the Course
b.
Sept. 15: Introduction to Moral Thinking
i. Introduction to Ethical Reasoning, from Donaldson and Werhane, Ethical issues in Business, 2002.
ii. JS Mills, On Liberty, excerpts from Chapters 1 and 3, in LaFollette, Ethics in Practice, 2007.
iii. Pinker, “The Moral Instinct,” NY Times, Jan. 13, 2008.
iv. Case Study: Motorcycle Helmet Laws
1. Teresi, “The Case for No Helmets,” NY Times, Op-Ed, June 17, 1995
2.
II.
NHTSA, “Motorcycle Helmet Laws,” 2004.
Markets and Social Welfare: Organ Transplantation (3 classes)
a.
Sept. 17: Lecture: Exchange and Economic Surplus
i. *** Frank and Bernanke, Chapter 7.
b.
Sept. 22: Introduction to Organ Transplants
i. Cihak and Glueck, “Should Congress Allow the Buying and Selling of Human Organs? Yes,” Insight,
May 7, 2001, 40 and 42-43.
ii. Childress, “Should Congress Allow the Buying and Selling of Human Organs? No,” Insight, May 7,
2001, 41 and 43.
iii. Rohter, “The Organ Trade,” NY Times, May 23, 2004.
iv. Meckler “Juggling Act: Kidney Swaps Seen as Way to Ease Donor Shortage,” WSJ, Oct. 15, 2007.
v. Meckler, “More Kidney Transplants May Go to Young,”, WSJ, March 10, 2007.
c.
Sept. 24: The Market for Kidneys
i. Becker and Elias, “Introducing Incentives in the Market for Live and Cadaveric Organ Donations,”
Journal of Economic Perspectives 21(3), 2007, 2-24.
ii. Cohen, “Directions for the Disposition of My (and Your) Vital Organs,” Regulation, Fall 2005, 32-38.
III.
Externalities, Taxes and Addiction: Cigarettes (4 Lectures)
a.
Sept. 29: Lecture: Externalities, Elasticity and Pigovian Taxes:
i. Paper topics due today!
ii. *** Frank and Bernanke, Chapter 12.
b.
Oct. 1: Cigarette Taxes
i. “How to save one billion lives,” The Economist, Feb 7th 2008
ii. Lambert, “The Case Against Smoking Bans,” Regulation, Winter 2006-2007, 34-40.
iii. *** Gruber, “Tobacco at a cross-roads,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 2001, 193-212.
c.
Oct. 6: Models of Addiction:
i. Becker, “Habits, Addictions and Traditions,” Kyklos, 1992.
ii. Schelling, “Cigarette Addiction,” Science, Jan. 24, 1992, 430-433.
d.
Oct. 8: Debate: Rationality and Addiction
i. Viscusi, Gruber and Firey in Regulation, Winter 2002-2003, 52-65.
IV.
Illegal Markets: The War on Drugs
a.
Oct. 13: Introduction to the War on Drugs:
i. Wilson, “Against the legalization of drugs,” Commentary, Commentary, 89:2 (1990:Feb.) p.21-28.
ii. Husak, “Four Points about Drug Decriminalization,” Criminal Justice Ethics, Winter/Spring 2003.
iii. Sher, “On the Decriminalization of Drugs,” Criminal Justice Ethics, Winter/Spring 2003.
iv. Buckley, “The War on Drugs is Lost,” National Review, Feb 12, 1996.
v. *** MacCoun and Reuter, Chapter 2, in Heresies.
b.
Oct. 15: The Economics of Prohibition
i. Miron, “The Economic Analysis of Drug Prohibition,” Miron, Drug War Crimes, Chapter 2.
ii. Reuter, “The Limits of Supply-Side Drug Control,” Milken Institute Review, 2001.
iii. Levitt and Dubner, “Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live with Their Moms?,” Chapter 3 of Freakonomics.
iv. *** Becker, Goldstein and Murphy, “The Market for Illegal Goods: The Case of Drugs,” Journal of
Political Economy 114(1), 38-60.
Oct. 20: Midterm Exam
c.
Oct. 22: Prohibition and Drug Use
i. Miron “The Effect of Prohibition on Drug Consumption,” Drug War Crimes, Chapter 3.
ii. Miron, “The Effect of Prohibition on Drug Prices,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 2003, 522530.
iii. Executive Summary: The Economic Cost of Drug Abuse 1992-2002, Office of National Drug Control
Policy, http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/.
iv. Partnership for a Drug Free America, “Faces of Meth,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8gB-_41EE&feature=related.
v. *** Heresies, Chapter 5
Oct. 27: Rough Drafts Due (no class)
d.
Oct. 29: Drugs and Law Enforcement
i. Miron, “Prohibitions and Violence,” Drug War Crimes.
ii. Goldstein et al. “Drug-Related Homicide in New York: 1984 and 1988,” Crime Delinquency. 1992:
459-476.
iii. Blumenson and Nilsen, “The Drug War’s Hidden Agenda,” The Nation, March 9, 1998, 11-16.
e.
Nov. 3: Decriminalization and Harm Reduction: Drug Policy in Europe
i. Collins, “Holland’s Half-Baked Experiment,” Foreign Affairs, May/June 1999.
ii. Nadelmann, “Commonsense Drug Policy,” Foreign Affairs, January/February 1998.
iii. Reinarman et al., “Cannabis in Amsterdam and San Fransisco,” American Journal of Public Health,
May 2004, Vol 94, No. 5.
iv. Huber, “Needle Park,” Addiction, 1994, 513-16.
v. *** MacCoun and Reuter, Chapters 11 and 12, in Heresies.
f.
Nov. 5: The International War on Drugs:
i. The Economist, “Battles won, a war still lost,” Feb. 10, 2005.
ii. Thoumi, “Illegal Drugs in Colombia: From Illegal Economic Boom to Social Crisis,” ANNALS,
AAPSS, 582, July 2002
iii. Peceny and Durnan, “FARC's Best Friend: U.S. Antidrug Policies and the Deepening of Colombia's
Civil War in the 1990s,” Latin American Politics and Society, Summer 2006.
V.
The Market for Sex
a.
Nov. 10: The Economics of Marriage and Infidelity
i. Edlund, “Marriage: Past Present and Future,” CESifo Economic Studies 52(4), 2006, 621–639.
ii. Elmslie and Tebaldi, “So what did you do last night? The Economics of Infidelity,” Kyklos 61(3),
2008, 391-210.
b.
Nov. 12: Introduction to Prostitution
i. Shrage “Prostitution and the case for decriminalization,” Dissent 43, 1996, 41-45
ii. Farley, “Bad for the Body, Bad for the Heart,” Violence Against Women 10(10), 2004, 1087-1125.
iii. Weitzer, “Prostitution: Facts and Fictions,” Contexts 6(4), 28-33.
iv. Interview with Carol Leigh: http://deepthroated.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/interviews-from-desireewith-robyn-few-and-carol-leigh/
c.
Nov. 17: The Economics of Prostitution:
i. Daley, “New Rights for Dutch Prostitutes,” NY Times, August 12, 2001
ii. Richtel, “Sex Trade Monitors a Key Figure’s Woes,” NY Times, June 17.
iii. Platt, “Regulating the Global Brothel,” American Prospect, July 2, 2001, 10-14.
iv. O’Beirne, “Of Human Bondage,” National Review, Mar 11, 2002; 20-21.
v. Wallace and Zamora, “Sex trafficking ruthless, lucrative,” SF Chronicle, Saturday, January 24, 2004
vi. *** Albert, et al., “Regulating Prostitution: A comparative law and economics approach,” FEDEA
working paper, 2007-30.
vii. *** Levitt and Venkatesh, “An Empirical Analysis of Street-Level Prostitution,” manuscript, U. of
Chicago, Sept. 2007.