<
https://theconversation.com/what-irelands-smoking-ban-20-years-ago-can-teach-us-about-big-changes-to-human-behaviour-224120>
"In March 2004, the Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world
to ban smoking in indoor public places, including bars and restaurants.
Every country that eventually followed suit wrestled with the same arguments.
The bans were seen as a good idea for health reasons, but widely opposed as
being against civil liberties, and potentially disastrous for the hospitality
industry.
In 2005, only a third of British adults supported a full smoking ban in pubs,
which was ultimately implemented in 2007. By 2014, 82% supported keeping it in
place. No polling institute is even asking the question anymore.
One reason behind this huge change in opinion is that smoking itself is now
much less common in most countries (partly a result of the bans themselves).
But long-term trends cannot explain the fact that all over the world the
popularity of smoking bans increases dramatically almost immediately after they
are imposed.
Economics though, can help to explain this change of perception – and how
humans are sometimes more accepting of change than we might think.
Game theory, the study of strategic choices, describes this kind of phenomenon
as “multiple equilibria”. Simply put, it means that when our own choices depend
on the choices of others, there is sometimes more than one possible outcome –
and no reason to believe that one is more natural or stable than the other.
So with smoking, in one situation (or equilibrium), almost every pub used to
allow smoking and that was generally considered normal and acceptable. Twenty
years on, we have shifted to another equilibrium where a lack of cigarette
smoke in pubs is the norm.
Once you get used to the idea, you can see the concept of multiple equilibria
everywhere."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
