What will happen to economies that depend on tobacco ?
It is a perception that tobacco control will lead to loss of revenues. The economic analysis show that the social and health costs of tobacco far outweigh the direct economic benefits that may be possible because of tobacco cultivation. The tobacco industry relies on the argument that there are no real crop or other substitution options. It is reasonable to assume that consumers who stop smoking will reallocate their tobacco expenditure to other goods and services in the economy. Therefore, falling employment in the tobacco industry will be offset by increases in employment in other industries. However, in the medium-term, for countries which rely heavily on tobacco exports (i.e., the economy is a net exporter of tobacco), economic/agricultural diversification will likely entail employment losses. The FCTC takes a long-term view of agricultural diversification. The framework-protocol approach provides for an evolutionary approach to developing an international legal regime for tobacco
