The economics of tobacco control in low- and middle-income countries

• Main Author: Blecher, Evan
• Other Authors: Van Walbeek, Corne
• Format: Doctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2014
• Subjects: Economics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10115

Includes bibliographical references (p. 174-189). === Global best practice in tobacco control policy is anchored by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which recommends that countries use, amongst other things, tax increases and advertising bans to reduce tobacco consumption. Furthermore, this is supplemented by various policy documents and technical manuals produced by the World Health Organisation and the World Bank which provide a more thorough justification of these policy measures. This thesis seeks to examine the application of these tobacco control policy measures on tobacco consumption in low and middle-income countries. The thesis focuses on tax policy in low- and middle-income countries by moving the metric from price to affordability (which considers price and income simultaneously). This is important since many low- and middle-income countries are growing rapidly and price increases may not be reducing consumption.