Dr. Chaloupka on Tobacco Taxes in New Zealand

October 14, 2015 New Zealand has been praised for its history of aggressive tobacco taxation, with a 10% increase in taxes on tobacco products every year since 2010 that has resulted in an overall average drop in cigarette sales of 23%. In light of the government's recent decision not to extend tobacco tax increases beyond 2016,  Dr. Chaloupka was in New Zealand last week with a group of leading tobacco control experts to urge the government to reconsider. Read More

Do Taxes Make You Healthier?

October 13, 2015 Dr. Frank Chaloupka is a distinguished professor of economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is an internationally respected scientist in the area of tobacco control. Read More

Absolutely No Question Raising Tax on Tobacco Reduces Smoking

October 13, 2015 Amidst calls for the government of New Zealand to consider its next move on smoke-free policies, Dr. Chaloupka met with economics journalist Nadine Chalmers-Ross on New Zealand's national television broadcaster TVNZ.  They discuss tobacco taxation, its impact on low-income populations, and other potential strategies to reduce smoking and improve health in New Zealand. Read More

Differential Taxes for Differential Risks

August 14, 2015 It is time to rethink conventional wisdom on tobacco taxation, say Tobacconomics researchers in a new Perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine. For decades now, the evidence-based best practice has been to tax all tobacco products at similar levels since they all harm health.  The rapid evolution of the nicotine-delivery product marketplace, however, has led researchers to reconsider. Read More

Researchers Uncover Disparities in Smoke-Free Law Coverage

July 17, 2015 Communities with less education and lower per capita income are less likely to have laws that completely prohibit smoking in public places, according to a study published online in the American Journal of Public Health that examined community level disparities in smoke-free laws across 10 states. Read More

Podcast: The Economics of Tobacco Control (Part 2)

June 23, 2015 The International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project), founded in 2002, systematically evaluates key policies of the WHO FCTC in 22 countries, containing more than 50% of the world’s population, 60% of the world’s smokers and 70% of the world’s tobacco users. Read More

Tobacconomics in New Tobacco Control Supplement: The Economics of Tobacco Control (Part 2)

June 22, 2015 Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago Institute for Health Research and Policy are authors on several papers published in a special supplement in the July issue of Tobacco Control that discusses finding from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation (ITC) Project. The ITC Project, directed by Geoffrey Fong, professor of psychology at the University of Waterloo, Canada, conducts longitudinal surveys of smokers and tobacco users across 22 countries, covering over two-thirds of the world’s tobacco users. Read More

Fixed Cigarette Taxes Leave Smokers Less Wiggle Room

April 29, 2015 The way that cigarettes are taxed in different countries can lead to prices that either vary widely from brand to brand, providing opportunities for smokers to switch to cheaper brands in response to boosts in cigarette taxes, or fall within a relatively limited range, leaving fewer money-saving options to turn to when taxes are hiked, report researchers in a new study in the journal Tobacco Control. Read More

Women Smokers Concerned about Weight Are Less Likely to Try to Quit

April 06, 2015 Women who believe smoking helps them manage their weight are less likely to try quitting in response to anti-smoking policies than other female smokers in the U.S. Read More

Tobacconomics at WCTOH 2015

March 11, 2015 Tobacconomics director Dr. Frank J. Chaloupka will be representing our work in the following sessions at the 16th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from March 17–21. (Click on the session title for more details.) Read More