Assignment:
Consider the right to smoke or to be free from smoke in the following situations. In which situations do you think that transaction costs are so high that they preclude private bargains, and in which cases do you think that transaction costs are low enough for private bargains to occur? Explain your answer.
a. Smoking in a private residence.
b. Smoking in a public area, such as a shopping mall, an indoor arena or concert hall, or an outdoor stadium.
c. Smoking in hotel rooms.
d. Smoking on commercial airline flights.
What sorts of arguments might be made for and against a bargaining or more interventionist means of dealing with each issue? To what extent are social norms, not law, determinative of the outcome?