
Pssst! Wanna boost kids’ smoking? Have a display ban!
15 July 2010Patrick Basham blogs about smoking on the Institute of Economic Affairs web site.
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Anti-smoking law may be overturned in UK government review
Guardian article cites Patrick Basham's IEA display ban paper as key evidence.
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Adjunct scholar Christopher Snowdon critiques "The Spirit Level" in the Wall Street Journal
9 July 2010A year after its publication, The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always do Better is a regular feature on the bookshelves of left-wing intellectuals. This book purports to offer strong support for the claim that income redistribution creates social good. Unfortunately, this conclusion doesn't stand up to serious scrutiny.
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Rather than being written in the stars, a nation's soccer fortune is written in the stats
Patrick BashamJuly 6, 2010
Rather than being written in the stars (human or celestial), a nation's soccer fortune is written in the stats - the economic stats. My analysis of each World Cup nation's level of economic freedom provides a fairly reliable guide to their performance in South Africa.
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London's Institute of Economic Affairs publishes Patrick Basham's tobacco display ban study
Patrick BashamJuly 1, 2010
Despite UK display ban advocates’ repeated assertions, the empirical evidence does not demonstrate that tobacco display bans have reduced smoking prevalence or consumption in the four countries where they have been instituted: Canada, Iceland, Ireland, and Thailand. In this sense, display bans appear to be - like so many other tobacco control policies - highly ineffective. A powerful and growing body of research evidence suggests that each country that implements a new tobacco display ban risks significant economic damage and a deterioration in public health.
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Patrick Basham quoted in Correio Braziliense on Obama's Afghanistan strategy
Patrick BashamJune 27, 2010
Patrick Basham quoted in Correio Braziliense on Obama's Afghanistan strategy .
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Kicking The Soda Can: Hard Truths About Soft Drink Taxes
June 4, 2010
Before the nation's food police begin fantasizing about a thinner population, coupled with sizeable new streams of government revenue, a closer look at five key problems with soft drink taxes is warranted.
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Democracy Institute adjunct scholar Christopher Snowdon's new book:
The Spirit Level Delusion: Fact-Checking the Left's Theory of Everything
May 28, 2010
Here, the author of The Spirit Level Delusion explains why Britain’s chattering classes were so wrong to embrace The Spirit Level and its argument that all of society’s problems are caused by inequality.
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Five-a-Day Won't Keep the Doctor Away
Patrick Basham & John LuikMay 13, 2010
The idea that eating fruit and veg can help to ward off cancer is repeated over and over again. Despite not being true.
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