In addition to the obvious link between tobacco consumption and cancer of the lung and oral cavity, there is increasing evidence that carcinogens in smoke many also have an impact in many other organ sites. The potential damage of second hand smoke, especially to children, also requires stress. While studies of gene polymorphisms for enzymes involved in carcinogen metabolism have pointed to a g...

To analyze the optimal social insurance package, we set up a two-period life-cycle model with risky human capital investment, where the government has access to labor taxation, education subsidies and capital taxation. Social insurance is provided by redistributive labor taxation. Moreover, both education subsidies and capital taxation are used as catalyzers to facilitate social insurance by mi...

This study analyzes the effectiveness of taxation and anti-smoking publicity in influencing the demand for cigarettes, applying time series analysis to per capita cigarette consumption data in Switzerland between 1954 and 1977. The results suggest that two major publicity campaigns following the publication of the U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health in 1964 caused immediate decr...

The two principal smoking-related state legislative activities stand in sharp contrast to one another. Cigarette excise taxation diffused among the states well before the connection between smoking and illness became a public issue, yet more recent tax increases appear to reflect a response to the national anti-smoking campaign. The growing disparity in cigarette prices between tobacco and othe...

Chapter Outline Designing Broad-Based Taxes: The Economic Objectives 171 Ability to Pay: Theoretical Considerations 173 Two Preliminary Considerations 173 Horizontal Equity 174 From Horizontal Equity to the Ideal Tax Base 174 The Three Principles of Tax Design 174 People Bear the Tax Burden 174 Individuals Sacrifice Utility 174 The Ideal Tax Base as the Best Surrogate Measure of Utility 175 Hai...