Markets in Vice, Markets in Virtue

Could competition policy be driving increases in overeating, gambling, aggressive tax planning and sex crimes? A leading specialist in business regulation and white collar crime says it does. John Bratithwaite argues that the competition policies that attack monopolies to ensure vigorous price competition and more efficient production of goods also drive more efficient productions of 'bads'. Braithwaite argues that there are markets in vice as well as markets in virtue, with the same characteristic supply and demand. Using a detailed case study of taxation in Australia and the United States, Braithwaite demonstrates the mechanisms whereby competition induces demand for vice and more importantly, the regulatory interventions that can be used to flip markets in vice to markets in virtue.