Supermarkets and booze
There's an enormous amount of nonsense being spoken about the idea that the government should legislate to keep the price of alcohol high.
Tim Worstall writes some common sense, pointing out:
This is a markedly pro-capitalist and anti-consumer measure.Why?
Alcohol is used as a loss-leader. Stop people from competing on the price of alcohol and supermarket profits will go up: and consumer benefits go down.Quite. But it's even worse an idea than that. It would, almost certainly, provide yet another example of that most pervasive of public policy laws, the law of unintended consequences (quite apart from acting as a booster to supermarket profits).
Take the experience with fags. What has increased duty done? It has sent smuggling through the roof. All that will happen with alcohol is that illicit purchases will increase. Genius idea.