Business, Politics, and Cigarettes: Multiple Levels, Multiple Agendas

by Richard McGowan

Overview

The American cigarette industry is again facing enormous pressure from various groups whose goal is a smoke free society. What differentiates this present wave from the previous two waves of regulation faced by the cigarette industry is the severity with which these measures are applied by the state and local government who are enacting anti-smoking laws and regulations and increased excise taxes. Cigarette taxes are a lucrative revenue for the states, which they must ultimately trade-off with their stated goals of deterring smoking. Frequently, in spite of the needs of public health, states find themselves competing with one another for these excise tax revenues and cigarette sales, making them the primary point of challenge for the cigarette industry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780899309644
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/18/1995
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)
Lexile:	1420L (what's this?)

About the Author

RICHARD McGOWAN is Adjunct Professor of Economics at Boston College. His viewpoints on legalized gambling have made him a frequent guest on radio talkshows, including NPR's Marketplace, and in interviews with the press. The primary focus of his research is the interaction between the business and the public policy processes, especially related to tobacco, alcohol, textile, and steel industries.

Table of Contents

Preface
The Cigarette Industry and Government
An Introduction to the Cigarette-Government Controversy
The History of Government Regulation of the Cigarette Industry: A Three Wave Model
A Convergence Model for Business and Public Policy
Cigarette Sales, Cigarette Prices, and State Excise Tax Policy
Evaluating the Effects of Second Wave Policies on Cigarette Sales
The Cigarette Excise Tax: The Public Policy Measure of the Third Wave Regulation
The State and Cigarette Excise Taxes: Dependency, Revenue, and Competition
The Future of the Cigarette Industry
New Horizons for the Cigarette Industry: The Privatization of the Worldwide Cigarette Industry
Conclusions, Analysis, and Implications
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Differs from the many studies of the tobacco industry by focusing on the interaction between the companies and public policy making, rather than on one or the other, and by focusing attention on the state as well as the national government. Also considers the diversification policy of the tobacco companies and investigates whether they raise prices when states raise the tax; and the extent to which states depend on cigarette taxes for revenue and whether raising them beyond a certain point reduces revenue. Revised from a 1988 Ph.D. dissertation. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews