In the Three Months Before a $1 Per Pack Cigarette

question 66

Essay

In the three months before a $1 per pack cigarette tax took effect in Ontario, smokers bought 175 million more cigarettes than during the same period a year earlier. What explains this behaviour by consumers?

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Definitions:

Genetic Drift

A random process that causes allele frequencies in a population to change over generations without influence from natural selection.

Natural Selection

A fundamental mechanism of evolution where organisms with traits better suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing those traits to the next generation.

Mutation

A change in the DNA sequence within a gene or chromosome of an organism that can result in a different trait or characteristic.

Evolutionary Change

The pathway through which multiple categories of living beings are believed to have advanced and diversified from primitive forms during the chronological history of Earth.