Alconomics

If you have read Freakonomics, you will understand what is Alconomics. Freakonomics is a collection of articles by Levit & Dubner published as a book. The stories apply economic theories to diverse subjects not usually covered by traditional economists. (Courtesy - Wiki).For example in one of the articles, the authors state that the reason for rise in crime rate in US was not the liberal gun licensing policy as all assumed. The real reason was the rise in teenage pregnancies. Teen moms were abandoning their new borns. These babies were growing up in not so good neighbourhoods and eventually took up crime in life. The authors in fact establish their theory with statistics of correlation.



I read this book about 4 years back but a random TOI blog that I read a few days back on prohibition in Gujarat lead me to think of the concept of Alconomics. Gujarat has been a prohibition state for last 50 years. The statesmen have given the following reason for not lifting the ban in the state:

"The Gandhians in Gujarat however oppose lifting of prohibition tooth and nail. Many others think that there are no "other crimes" in Gujarat because the police is happy from the income generated from prohibition. Moreover criminals can also earn enough from this business: so there is no need for them to indulge in other, deadlier crimes. There are some who think that the streets of Gujarat are immune from the sort of crime seen in other places because of prohibition. Lifting prohibition will be akin to opening the gates of a dam, they argue. "



Very alconomics - ain't it? Read the complete post here!!