January 20, 2006

Former chief FTC economist Jeremy Bulow, who's done some of the most incisive analysis of the Great Tobacco Robbery of 1998, has a new working paper out (PDF) spelling out many of the deal's ongoing consequences. One tidbit, concerning the benevolent cartelizing influence of the National Association of Attorneys General:

The owners of the largest grandfathered SPMs [subsequent participating manufacturers, small cigarette producers that joined after the deal was struck] have all become extremely wealthy courtesy of NAAG --- in addition to the owner of Medallion, the owners of Commonwealth and Santa Fe sold out for over a billion dollars between them.