title: International issues in the supply of tobacco: recent changes and implications for alcohol.
abstract: This paper reviews international issues in the supply of tobacco and tobacco products, including trade liberalization and globalization. The paper begins with a brief discussion of the theoretical foundations for trade and trade restrictions. This is followed by a description of the treatment of tobacco and tobacco products in recent multi-lateral, regional and bilateral trade agreements, as well as a short discussion of the recent globalization of the tobacco industry. Included in this description is a review of the empirical evidence on the impact of trade liberalization on tobacco use. The implications of two recently proposed international agreements--the Multilateral Agreement on Investments and the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control--are then discussed. The paper concludes by summarizing the theoretical and empirical evidence that shows clearly that trade liberalization has significantly increased tobacco use, particularly in low and middle-income countries, and follows this with a discussion of the lessons learned from tobacco for controlling alcohol supply.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics (M/C 144), University of Illinois at Chicago, 601 South Morgan Street, Chicago, IL 60607-7121, USA. fjc@uic.edu
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Chaloupka
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nair
mesh_terms: D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000600:supply & distribution; D003132:Commerce; D007391:International Cooperation; D018803:Models, Economic; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D019460:Tobacco Industry; D062789:Tobacco Products / Q000600:supply & distribution