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5.8 trillion
cigarettes were sold to more than 1 billion smokers worldwide in the last ten years
40% increase
in e-cigarette sales for every 10% increase in cigarette prices in the European Union »
$170 billion
of annual healthcare spending in the U.S. can be attributed to cigarette smoking
$156 billion
in lost productivity from tobacco use annually between 2009-2012
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Recent Research
March 2018
Tobacco & Poverty »
Topics: Economic consequences / Economic impact of tobacco control / Impact on the poor / Tax and price / Tobacco use
January 2018
Cigarette Smuggling in Response to Large Tax Increase in Indiana is Greatly Exaggerated »
Topics: Tax and price / Tax avoidance and evasion
November 2017
Cigarette Smuggling in Response to Large Tax Increase Is Greatly Exaggerated »
Topics: Economic impact of tobacco control / Impact on demand / Tax and price / Tax avoidance and evasion / Tobacco taxes revenues
November 2017
Tobacco Tax Increases Remain Most Effective Policy for Reducing Tobacco Use »
Topics: Cost-effectiveness / Economic impact of tobacco control / Impact on demand / Tax and price
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Recent updates
May 8, 2018
Two More Countries Join Tobacconomics Partnerships to Reduce Global Tobacco Use
Researchers from Pakistan and Bangladesh have become the newest members of Tobacconomics’ international partners that will conduct economic research to help inform and shape tobacco control policies in the two countries. The new international partners are the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) in Bangladesh, the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) and the Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC) in Pakistan. They join an existing partnership of six organizations covering 14 countries that was announced on March 9, 2018. The partnership, coordinated by Tobacconomics policy researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s (UIC) Institute for Health Research and Policy, engages in research to produce local evidence on the economic impacts of tobacco taxation. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh have complex tax systems on tobacco products, and both have opportunities to increase tobacco taxes, reduce tobacco consumption and generate new revenues that can be used for health and development efforts. Researchers from … Read more »
May 7, 2018
Economists, please note: The Bloomberg Summers Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health is Important
Recently, former New York mayor and CEO of Bloomberg L.P., Michael Bloomberg, and Larry Summers, former US Treasury Secretary and Chief Economist of the World Bank and currently professor of economics at Harvard University, announced the launch of a new Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health to promote the use of fiscal policy as a tool to reduce the global burden of non-communicable diseases. Taskforce members announced so far include many leaders from the global economic policy-making world, including several former and current Ministers of Finance, central bank governors, global development experts, and a number of high-profile economists. The taskforce is going to consider how to better use taxes on tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks to reduce the economic and health burden of non-communicable diseases. But, how is this taskforce different to other similar initiatives and why is this one important? This new task force, led and staffed by key … Read more »