Jeffrey Drope

Zambia’s daliance with cigarette manufacturing is a cautionary tale for other African countries. Shutterstock

June 24, 2019

Cautionary tale of tax incentives for cigarette makers from Zambia

Ronald Labonte, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa; Fastone Goma, University of Zambia; Jeffrey Drope, Marquette University, and Raphael Lencucha, McGill University

As Zambia’s case study shows, the benefits of boosting investment in cigarette manufacturing run the risk of being wiped out by the health and economic development costs of increasing smoking.

A Malawi boy sits among drying tobacco leaves in 2014. Jeffrey Drope

January 1, 2018

Big Tobacco woos African farmers with bogus promises of prosperity

Ronald Labonte, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa; Donald Makoka, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources; Jeffrey Drope, Marquette University, and Raphael Lencucha, McGill University

The tobacco industry claims that tobacco- growing is essential to the livelihoods of millions of small-scale rural farmers in Malawi, Zambia and Kenya. Research shows that’s untrue.

Shao Fei lights a cigarette on a Beijing street in 2015 as a co-worker looks on. Shao said at the time that higher taxes on cigarettes would lead him to stop smoking. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

November 30, 2017

A tax increase that’s proven to save lives

Jeffrey Drope, Marquette University and Otis W. Brawley, Emory University

Tobacco taxes have been shown to curtail cigarette smoking. Why aren’t more countries, including the US, implementing them effectively?

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