Title: The role of government in tobacco leaf production in China: national and local interventions

Authors: Teh-wei Hu, Zhengzhong Mao, Hesheng Jiang, Ming Tao, Ayda Yurekli

Addresses: School of Public Health, Room 412 Warren Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA. ' Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. ' Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. ' Fudan University, Shanghai, China. ' World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

Abstract: China produces about one-third of the world|s supply of tobacco leaf and is the largest consumer of cigarettes. Any discussion of tobacco control in China requires an understanding of the government|s role in this sector because China|s tobacco production and cigarette marketing are all under the control of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration. Compared to other cash crops, tobacco leaf has the lowest economic rate of return. Currently, China has a large surplus of tobacco leaf. One of the factors contributing to this surplus is local governments| encouraging farmers to plant tobacco leaf, in part because of their incentive of collecting tax revenue from tobacco leaf sales.

Keywords: tobacco leaf; tobacco control; cigarette marketing; government intervention; government revenues; agricultural economies; crop transition; national monopolies; China; public policy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPP.2007.012905

International Journal of Public Policy, 2007 Vol.2 No.3/4, pp.235 - 248

Published online: 23 Mar 2007 *

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