Over the last few years, a new idea for improving public health has been slowly spreading across the world: a ban on selling cigarettes in packages with custom brand designs. Instead of selling branded tobacco, all cigarettes are sold in either plain packages or packages with grotesque pictures showing the health consequences of smoking.

The obvious question is: is it effective at reducing smoking rates? The less obvious one: what are the economic consequences of a healthier population? Continue reading Plain cigarette packaging: healthier citizens, sicker state finances? →