Complexities at the intersection of tobacco control and trade liberalisation

Evidence from Southeast Asia

Bibliographic Data

ID15304168
AuthorsJeffrey Drope (0000-0003-0147-9722, American Cancer Society, corresponding author), Jenina Joy Chavez
Year2014
Volume24
Issuee2
Pagese128-e136
Publication date2014-02-05
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTobacco Control (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0964-4563 • E-ISSN: 1468-3318
PublisherBMJ (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2013-051312
PMID24500267
OpenAlexW2163213574
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited44

For more than two decades, public health scholars and proponents have demonstrated concern about the negative effects of trade liberalisation on tobacco control policies. However, there is little theoretically-guided, empirical research across time and space that evaluates this relationship. Accordingly, we use one major region that has experienced rapid and significant recent liberalisation, Southeast Asia, and examine key tobacco control-relevant outcomes between 1999 and 2012. While we find a modest increase in regional trade in tobacco products in some countries, the effects on tobacco affordability and consumption are very mixed with no clear link to liberalisation. We argue that widespread penetration of the region by transnational tobacco firms is likely mitigating the effects of trade liberalisation. Notably, tobacco control policies have also generally improved across the region, part of which is likely the result of successful regional and global efforts by civil society, governments and intergovernmental organisations. The results suggest that scholars and public health proponents should move the focus away from narrow economic aspects of liberalisation toward specific issues that are more likely to affect tobacco control, such as intellectual property rights protections and investor-state dispute settlement

Business · Development economics · Economics · Intellectual property · International economics · International trade · Liberalization · Political science · Public health · Tobacco control · Tobacco industry · Employment and Welfare Studies · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology · Global trade and economics · Law · Medicine