scribes a market with only few producers and its entry into the market is relatively difficult. Government wants to control these private powers. Cigarette companies all work together to set their prices. If one company lowers or raises their prices the other companies will take notice of this and follow the other lead. From the early twentieth century tobacco companies have always had to deal with all types of anti-trust regulations. The laws are based on the principle of conserving and encouraging a free and competitive marketplace. In the early days of tobacco sales, the government was afraid that the companies might be trying to monopolize the market, and set up its first antitrust law called the Sherman Act of 1890. The real reason of the trust was to promote efficiency and to get rid of weak entrepreneurs. They wanted to break up the market so not just one company would have all the power. In reality the laws just caused the top four tobacco companies to become more powerful.There have been many price changes in the sale of tobacco products throughout the years. Even during the Depression tobacco companies were able to raise prices because people would buy the product no matter what. I feel that if the government really does now want people to smoke then they should just make the product illegal. If not, continue to tax the sale of tobacco and make people pay. There are always going to be externalities out there that are going to affect the market, positive and negative. People that say that smoking is bad and those who just want to be left alone to smoke. Cigarette smokers are paying for a very expensive habit and as long as the government gets money off of it then I don’t see what a big problem tobacco use is. The government is the third party in the tobacco market and is basically getting a free ride off of them....
