Sunday, April 08, 2007

Easter Weekend and the Poor Sober Venezuelans

According to the Associated Press, Venezuelans were forced to celebrate this year's Easter holiday without their favorite beverages. President Hugo Chavez banned consumers and suppliers from selling any acoholic beverages beginning on Good Friday and lasting through Sunday. Chavez claims he was banning alcholic purchases to reduce the high number of accidents that occur every Easter holiday due to alcohol. Venezuela is known throughout Latin America as one of the highest producers of alcohol and one of the biggest consumers of alcohol.

As many of you may have guessed, the ban on alcohol led to tons of people rushing to by enough alcohol on Thursday to last throughout the holiday weekend. Many of the suppliers could not keep up with the demand, and many of the consumers became very angry. When the consumers found out about the ban, the overall demand curve shifted to the right while the supply curve stayed the same. In the very short run, a definite shortage occured as many suppliers said they simply could not account for the high demand. Many Venezuelans argued that instead of limiting their consumption of alcohol, Chavez should have placed an emphasis of improving the law enforcement. Many Venezuelans are allowed to walk around the streets drunk and drive while drinking. What do you think should have been done to curb the deaths and injuries related to alcohol consumption? Do you think Chavez did the right thing by placing human safety over the rules of basic economics concerning supply and demand and maximizing social welfare?

4 comments:

Eric Dowler said...

I do not think that Chavez did the right thing. If anything, the ban caused people to buy even more alcohol than they typically would have. Concerning maximizing social welfare, Chavez should have increased law enforcement while also issuing a limitation on how much you can buy during the weekend.

Melissa said...

I do not think that Chavez did the right thing. If he was planning this ban he should have given Venezuelans enough notice to get used to the idea. It sounds like he decided a week beforehand. Although, I do see his concern for the welfare of people being safe through the Easter weekend. However, I also believe that as Eric and Stephanie said that it caused many people to buy as much alcohol as they could on Thursday to last through the weekend. I think that Chavez should have cracked down on law enforcement and had more law enforcers our and about maintaining the streets and making sure no one was driving drunk.

Emily Shuba said...

Although Chavez might have believed that banning alcohol during the Easter weekend would decrease the occurance of accidents involving alcohol, he should have pondered alternate ways of controlling the alcohol problem. As Eric mentioned earlier, a much better solution to the problem could have been tougher enforcement. This would encourage citizens to be more responsible and would have eliminated the supply fiasco.

Rob Phillips said...

I think next Easter Venezualan alcohol providers will stock up to meet the increased demand for booze if Chavez is going to make it a dry weekend