6.1.3 Market forces

Market forces also regulate behaviour. Markets dictate that we don't get access to something unless we offer something of value in exchange. The price of cigarettes is potentially a constraint on a child's opportunity to smoke.

Unlike the law and social norms, market forces regulate at the time of the transaction. If children have no money, retailers will not sell them cigarettes.

Under the law, retailers must first be caught selling cigarettes to children, then they can be prosecuted. The punishment happens after the event. Likewise with social norms. The disdainful looks – and my fellow passengers' classification of me as someone who should be shunned for the duration of the train journey – happened after I tried to engage someone in conversation.