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? Read More
With the rising popularity of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) in the United States, the relative and absolute harms of ENDS use have become a subject of heated debate in the public health community. From a continuum of risks perspective, ENDS are substantially less harmful than cigarettes, potentially reducing health risks to those who substitute ENDS for smoking cigarettes. However, the long-term effects of ENDS and their overall public health impact remain unclear. Read More
Increases in taxes, which increase the price of tobacco products, are considered to be the most effective tobacco control policy measure. However, as the burden of smoking has shifted from high-income to low- and middle-income countries, evaluating the trends in prices as a nominal anchor for tax policy has become less important since so many low- and middle-income countries are experiencing fairly rapid economic growth. While in many high-income countries economic growth rates of 3% or less have become the norm, many low- and middle-income countries are experiencing annual economic growth rates of 6% per year or more. For a country with annual economic growth of 6%, even tax increases which result in price increases may not ensure that tobacco use declines. This has led to a significant change in the policy framework as much of the attention has shifted to ensuring that tax increases ensure that tobacco products become less affordable over time. This is reflected in the recommendations for the Guidelines for Implementation of Article 6 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control , which states: Read More
A new paper published by Tobacconomics researchers in collaboration with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published in the journal PLoS ONE finds that overall state spending on tobacco control has a significant negative impact on tax paid cigarette sales. Read More
In 2011, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued regulations requiring tobacco companies to add Graphic Warning Labels (GWLs) to cigarette packages. However, tobacco companies challenged these regulations, arguing that the FDA had not yet established the effectiveness of GWLs in reducing smoking prevalence. Eventually, the Courts ruled in their favor, denying the FDA’s requirement for GWLs in the U.S. Read More
Coinciding with Frank Chaloupka’s presentation today at the 30th Annual UN/ECLAC Regional Fiscal Policy Seminar in Santiago, Chile, Tobacconomics researchers, German Rodriguez Iglesias and Frank Chaloupka, released today a policy brief that investigates the challenges and opportunities for comprehensive tobacco control policies in Latin America. ´The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control in Latin America´ provides a review of the economics of tobacco control efforts in the region and discusses the recent evidence on the economics of tobacco control from the region, including the effectiveness of tobacco control measures, the impact of raising tobacco taxes on prices and government revenues, and a discussion on the economic impact of tobacco control measures. The findings of the brief are primarily based on the US National Cancer Institute & World Health Organization (WHO) Monograph on the Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control. Read More
Tobacconomics tax policy experts today announced new partnership agreements with six international organizations to conduct economic research that will help inform and shape tobacco control policies in 14 countries in Asia, Latin America and South Eastern Europe. Read More
Today is International Women’s Day, and discussions at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health are focused on the successes and challenges of tobacco control efforts among women. In recognition of this day, we would like to highlight some of our past research, which focuses on weight control beliefs among women that compromise the effectiveness of tobacco control policy. Read More
Today, Bloomberg Philanthropies lauded Argentina for its work to reduce tobacco use and raise tobacco taxes at its biennial Awards for Global Tobacco Control. Argentina was recognized, along with governments and civil society organizations of five other countries (Vietnam, El Salvador, Mexico, Senegal and Uganda) for its commitment to reducing the health and economic burden of tobacco related diseases. The policy efforts of Argentina relied on a unique collaboration between the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Health, and civil society organizations in the reform efforts. In the ceremony today in Cape Town, South Africa, the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Health and FIC Argentina, a civil society organization, jointly accepted the award. Read More
This week, the Tobacconomics group released a new Policy Brief examining the global evidence linking tobacco use to poverty and the difference tobacco taxation can make in disrupting cyclical poverty. This Brief challenges the assumption that tobacco taxes are regressive and the hurt the poor, and instead shows that increasing tobacco taxes are able to reduce tobacco use and its associated cyclical poverty. Read More
