The Bootleggers and Baptists Paradox: How Anti Vaping Campaigns Can Protect the Cigarette Market
July 16, 2026 by substack.com
The Bootleggers and Baptists Paradox: How Anti Vaping Campaigns Can Protect the Cigarette Market
Strange alliances often shape bad policy. In tobacco control, moral campaigners and commercial interests can end up pulling in the same direction when restrictions make legal, safer alternatives harder to access. The result is a paradox: policies presented as public health protection may leave the cigarette market stronger. Following the incentives matters, because the people harmed most are usually the smokers with the fewest good options.
