Price Elasticity, Metamucil and Cigarettes

Price Elasticity, sounds like bubble gum, the only difference being that bubble gum is stringy, sticky and if you’re like me gets stuck to your hair when you fall asleep and you don’t notice until you get to work and a coworker points it out; not good. But we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about the concept of price elasticity which refers to how much demand for a product changes as price changes. For example how much would demand change for say, your favorite hamburger if the price went up $1.00 (Considering that lately you’re able to get burger for a dollar, a dollar increase is pretty steep). So if your favorite burger went up $1.00 would you still buy it or would you move to hotdogs or even veggie burgers or even grilled chicken breast wraps; good question. That’s what the concept of price elasticity tries to analyze. Historically the price elasticity of cigarettes has been very small, meaning demand pretty much did not change with the hikes in prices, people simply kept on smoking. And I was one of those people; yes I did smoke next to you in bars whenever I could. It did not come without its price. It’s almost hard to admit you were a smoker, let alone are one, considering the way smoking is looked upon these days. You almost feel the same way as if you have to admit that you play Dungeons and Dragons in your mid thirties, people look at you like you’re a freak. I know it is stupid because it can kill you in the long run, but if I smoke I only kill myself not you, I love the world but I hate myself, is that so hard to understand? I’m not an advocate for smoking but there are many decisions that can be really harmful to your health, like taking the advice of someone who does not really care about you or getting romantically involved with the wrong person, trust me, we got to look at all our decisions. But it has become harder and harder to be a smoker. The price of cigarettes keeps rising and there are fewer and fewer places where you can enjoy a smoke. The key word here is “enjoy”. For me smoking has never been about doing it at work, taking smoke breaks or outside in a parking lot between beers, it’s about doing it in an environment where you can enjoy it. But the tax increases that have led to price increases have had an effect on demand. Add to the mix the inability to find places to smoke and you get an even greater decrease in demand for smoking at least on my part. So yeah price elasticity does affect cigarettes and it really affects anything as long as the change in price is substantial. Now, thanks to this and my doctor’s advice, I’m a habitual Metamucil user; enough said.