Increasing the Cigarette Excise Tax Would Delay Smoking Initiation in Mexico
This Policy Brief was written by Martin González-Rozada and Fiona Franco-Churruarin. The policy brief examines the determinants of daily smoking prevalence and smoking initiation in Mexico. The authors estimate that the daily smoking prevalence elasticity is -0.40, which suggests that a 10% increase in the price of cigarettes would reduce daily smoking prevalence by 4%. Youth, the poor, and women are more responsive to price, so they would reap the most benefits from such a policy. This price increase would also delay smoking initiation, on average, by 16 months from the mean starting age of 18. Similarly, youth, the poor, and women experience longer delays compared to other groups. The policy brief concludes that increasing the price of cigarettes through excise tax policies is a favorable and progressive policy in Mexico.
A corresponding Report can be found here.
October 2020
Location(s): Latin America and the Carribbean, Mexico
Project: Think Tanks Project: Accelerating Progress on Tobacco Taxes in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Content Type: Policy Brief
Topic(s): Economic impacts of tobacco control, Impact on demand, Impact on the poor, Tax and price, Tax levels and structure
Authors(s): Martin González-Rozada, Ph.D., Fiona Franco-Churruarin
Citation