Pakistan’s tobacco tax structure has undergone many changes in the past decade. Prior to 2013, the country had a highly complex three-tier Federal Excise Duty (FED) on cigarettes, with specific taxes on lower brands, ad-valorem taxes on premium brands levied as a percentage of retail price, and a combination of the two on medium brands. The tax structure was simplified in 2013, abolishing the ad-valorem component, making it a two-tier system instead. However, in 2017, a third tier was again introduced. At the 34th Annual Conference of the Pakistan Society of Development Economics last month, UIC think tank partners, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) and the Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC), launched two new research reports that make the case for a more simplified tobacco tax structure in Pakistan. Read More
Culminating a year-long investigation of tobacco taxation and its impact on consumer behaviors in the SEE region, Tobacconomics think tank partners in the region from Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia met in Belgrade with policy makers and public health advocates from the region to present their breakthrough findings and recommendations. Read More
Last month in Belgrade, Serbia, the Tobacconomics team joined with think tank partners in the region to discuss ongoing research on the impacts of tax and demand for tobacco products. The meeting was hosted by the Institute for Economic Sciences and included consortium members from Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Read More
Last week at the Mercosur Parliament in Montevideo, Uruguay, the Tobacconomics team participated in a research review meeting with its Latin America think tank partner network coordinated by the South American Network on Applied Economics (Red Sur). Read More
Although tobacco taxes may not seem to be the topic du jour in many development policy circles, these taxes, as part of a comprehensive tobacco control package, are helpful in achieving many of the sustainable development goals. A new brief by Tobacconomics Director, Frank Chaloupka, makes the case for increasing tobacco taxes as a way to achieve progress on multiple Sustainable Development Goals. Read More
This media release was published on June 5th, 2018, and discusses the findings from the report released by the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation and written by Frank Chaloupka and John Tauras about Indiana's spending on tobacco control efforts. Read More
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. Read More
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
