Economics for Health - EfH

10/14/2025

The 2019 economic crisis in 🇱🇧 devalued currency & resulted in changes to income distribution, yet did not significantly reduce prevalence 🔎

A 🆕 from American University of Beirut (AUB) found that:
- 66% of respondents were regular in 2024 and
- 61% of smokers consumed Cedars, a cheap local brand in 2024, up from 32% pre-2019.

Disposable income & prices of foreign brands also decreased after the crisis, reducing the price gap b/w foreign & local brands but remaining unaffordable for most 📉

Learn more about these findings 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/to***co-prevalence-in-lebanon-post-crisis/

10/09/2025

In our 🆕est blog, Economics for Health - EfH looks back at ***co tax increases around the world in summer 2025 🌍

14 countries across 5️⃣ regions took steps towards strengthening to***co taxes, but there is still much room for improvement to align with best practices 📈

Learn more about this progress & our recommendations 👇

The newly released 3rd edition of the To***conomics Cigarette Tax Scorecard scores cigarette tax policy performance in 170 countries on a five-point scale using data from the World Health Organization's biennial Report on the Global To***co Epidemic, providing policy makers with an actionable assess...

10/07/2025

[SPANISH] En 🇪🇨, el costo económico anual del consumo de asciende a $355,89 millones de dólares, debido al gasto en salud y a las pérdidas de productividad 🔎

Aumentar el precio de una cajetilla de *******os de $6,20 a $9,50 reduciría la prevalencia del consumo a 7,6% y además:

- generaría $42,5 millones de dólares adicionales como ingresos por impuestos cada año &
- permitiría recuperar $209,54 millones de dólares para la economía en 5 años 📈

Conoce más en esta 🆕 de política 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/spanish-el-aumento-a-los-impuestos-al-tabaco-una-herramienta-para-recuperar-los-costos-sociales-del-consumo-de-tabaco-en-ecuador/

& revisa la herramienta Cost Recovery and Revenue Estimator elaborada por American Cancer Society, Vital Strategies, y Economics for Health - EfH 👇

https://to***coatlas.org/corre/

10/06/2025

Congratulations to our colleagues at Analytica for hosting a successful regional workshop in , bringing together researchers, journalists, & international organizations 🎉

We look forward to continuing to collaborate with these stakeholders to strengthen ***co control & to***co tax policies across 🌍

10/02/2025

[SPANISH] Aumentar los al tabaco en 🇲🇽 es esencial para lograr los objetivos planteados en el Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 2025–2030 📈

Específicamente, nuestra nota técnica con la PAHO-WHO muestra que aumentar el componente específico a 3️⃣ pesos/ :

- reduciría el consumo de ****os hasta 44% y
- generaría hasta 78 mil millones de pesos de 🔎

Descubre más sobre la nota y las implicaciones de 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/spanish-hacia-un-mexico-justo-y-saludable-los-impuestos-al-tabaco-como-herramienta-del-plan-nacional-de-desarrollo-2025-2030/

09/22/2025

Economics for Health - EfH's own Carlos Guerrero joined partners in 🇲🇽 to discuss tax policy 🔎

Learn about the economic costs of alcohol & the opportunity to improve and raise government revenues w/ higher taxes 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/economic-costs-by-alcohol-in-mexico/

09/17/2025

📢 Happening today at 12:30pm ET!

Learn about the benefits of raising health taxes for , government tax revenues, & more from Economics for Health - EfH's Dr. Jeffrey Drope 🔎

Register here 👇https://jh.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RU4xI4ZeQMu1OUwPe6bAhw #/registration

Join us tomorrow when Jeffrey Drope, director of the Economics for Health - EfH project in the Department of Health, Behavior & Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, kicks off a new season of the Innovations in To***co Control lecture series with “Why producers of unhealthy products hate taxes.”

https://buff.ly/tNuvxf6

09/08/2025

Register below to learn about health tax policy from Economics for Health - EfH's director, Dr. Jeffrey Drope, happening:

📅 on Wednesday, September 17,
🕛 at 12:30 ET.

Thank you to our colleagues at Institute for Global To***co Control for including us in this valuable lecture series 📚

Jeffrey Drope, director of the Economics for Health - EfH project in the Department of Health, Behavior & Society at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, will give the opening Innovations in To***co Control lecture for the Fall-Winter season. Drope will speak on “Why producers of unhealthy products hate taxes” at Noon EDT/4 pm GMT on Wednesday, Sept. 17. Viewers can join online or in person by registering here – https://buff.ly/o7Pnxfi

08/26/2025

In 🇵🇰, our updated evidence matrix includes 9️⃣7️⃣ studies on ***co taxes & to***co control from 2006-2025 📚

The matrix includes methods, results, & key takeaways from relevant journal , reports, briefs, & more.

Learn about the findings produced by Social Policy and Development Centre and other local partners & researchers 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/evidence-matrix-pakistan/

08/21/2025

[SPANISH] En 🇲🇽, nuestos colegas del Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo - CIAD y de la Universidad Estatal de Sonora - UES evaluaron el impacto de aumentar el componente específico de los impuestos a los ci****os a 3 pesos por cigarro 🔎

Esta muestra que el incremento en el impuesto:

📉 reduciría el consumo 52% y
📈 aumentaría los fiscales de 46,943 millones de pesos a 67,800 millones de pesos.

4️⃣4️⃣% de la nueva incidencia fiscal caería en el quintil de más altos ingresos, mientras que el grupo de menores ingresos solo contribuiría con 6%.

Descubre más sobre estos hallazgos 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/spanish-impuestos-al-tabaco-en-mexico-una-medida-progresiva/

08/20/2025

We are excited to share our 🆕est evidence matrix, which focuses on the 🇵🇭

In this matrix, we compiled 3️⃣2️⃣ studies on the economics of ***co & to***co control, assessing:

- impact of raising taxes on consumption & tax revenues,
- effectiveness of to***co control & cessation strategies,
- use of & HTPs among different populations,

and more 🔎

Learn about the findings from 2012-2024 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/evidence-matrix-philippines

08/13/2025

🆕 in BusinessLIVE 🇿🇦 highlights how governments in can use health taxes to respond to & fiscal challenges across the region 🌍

Raising ***co, , & sugar-sweetened beverage excise taxes & improving tax design would:

- reduce consumption, thus reducing the burden of disease, while
- increasing tax revenue collection to fill budget gaps 📈

Meanwhile, myths perpetuated by the industry, claiming that taxes increase illicit trade or disproportionately harm low-income groups are unsubstantiated by .

Learn about expert recommendations from REEP at University of Cape Town, Vital Strategies, & Economics for Health - EfH on tax policy & industry interference 👇

An oft-heard criticism against increasing health taxes is that they are regressive. There is no evidence for this