Showing posts with label addictive behaviour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label addictive behaviour. Show all posts

Sunday, February 01, 2009

The long smoke of MUI 'fatwa'


I penned an op-ed in Jakarta Post (click here) on MUI fatwa.

The go-to model to analysed addictive behavior is the one developed (click here; JSTOR subcribtion required) by Gary S Becker, a Nobel Prize winner and briallant economist. A more recent model by O'Donogue and Rabin is worth a look (click here)

Interesting how religion could play part (or could they?) in policy debate.
Even more so since there is no punishment (or excommunication) for disobeying the fatwa in the way MUI structured in Indonesia. It is more of moral suasion than a directive. Would be interesting to analyzed the impact on cigarette sales figure

The responds to more article on the comment section of Jakarta Post website are quite lengthy and passionate. Still thinking whether to respond and in what tone. Any suggestions?