Associate Professor in Business Economics in the School of Management and Co-Director of the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath, UK.
Bath, England
Joined October 2013
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Rob Branston retweeted
Taxes raise prices, and higher prices reduce smoking. But duty-free tobacco sales remain a policy anomaly and deny the government much-needed health revenue. @JRBranston @otago theconversation.com/ending-d…
Rob Branston retweeted
The 4th edition of the @EconforHealth #CigaretteTaxScorecard is now live 🎉
The Scorecard assesses #cigarette tax policies in 171 countries w/ latest @WHO data. Some gov'ts are progressing, yet most have significant room for improvement 📈
Learn more 👇
economicsforhealth.org/resea…
Rob Branston retweeted
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🎙️ Series 2 of our podcast Deadly Industry: Challenging Big Tobacco is here! 🚨
🎧 Listen and share to help us hold this deadly industry to account: lnkd.in/eqKimTk4
@UniofBath
My new paper with @MinKuang_Tsai looks at the impact of COVID travel bans on duty-free tobacco sales in #Taiwan. Not being able to access cheap #dutyfree meant less #tobacco sold, a win for public health. Time for duty-free tobacco to be banned!
doi.org/10.1136/tc-2025-0596…
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Delighted to report that Dr Allen Gallagher (@AllenGallagher_) and I have been appointed as Co-Directors of the Tobacco Control Research Group (@BathTR) at the University of Bath (@UniofBath). We aim to continue the great that the team has done to date!
bath.ac.uk/announcements/tcr…
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My new paper in @TC_BMJ with @ZainebDanish
@kevinmwelding @Lilia_Olefir looks at #HTP taxes and prices in Ukraine. We find they used similar pricing tactics to combustion cigarettes and that lower HTP taxes were just a subsidy for the #tobacco industry tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/conte…
Producing #tobacco products is hugely profitable. Wholesale price caps & a #polluterpays levy could stop the industry making so much, increase government tax revenues & stop the industry selling with price. Public health + government finances both win! tinyurl.com/mt5fb5bs
Rob Branston retweeted
March Issue: Improving estimates of the illicit cigarette trade through collaboration: lessons from two studies of Malaysia. bit.ly/42weaiQ @JRBranston @AllenGallagher_ @WencyBui
Great new blog by Mark Lloyd - policy head at RSA/ex economic and fiscal policy in @hmtreasury and No10 - adding his voice to our work that calls for a new scheme to fix the price of #tobacco products and apply a #polluterpays levy to raise £700m annually
smf.co.uk/commentary_podcast…
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APPG report just out calls for 10 measures to make #smoking obsolete in the UK within 20 years. It adopts our work and calls for the introduction of a #polluterpays levy to limit industry prices and raise £700 million a year from the #tobaccoindustry
ash.org.uk/resources/view/a-…
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#taxation is one of the key tools to address tobacco use. In the EU this is governed by tobacco tax directive #TTD. In my new paper in with @amomal69 / Dr Ross, we evaluate leaked proposal for reform, finding welcome enhancements but not perfection
doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.202…
Delighted to have been involved in this really important project
A 🆕 report indicates inconsistencies between the amount of #cigarettes produced and the #tax paid by BATK, British American Tobacco’s Kenya subsidiary.
The report from @InvestigativeD and @TaxJusticeAfric suggests a tax discrepancy of up to $28 million.
bath.ac.uk/announcements/mis…
ALT “Tobacco industry tax exploitation and avoidance in Africa is nothing new. These latest findings once again show an inconsistency between what tobacco companies declare and what they actually do.”
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Rob Branston retweeted
✨ Episode four of Deadly Industry: Challenging Big Tobacco is out now.
In this episode, @JRBranston discusses all things money including the vast profitability of the #tobaccoindustry and how #tobaccotax works.
Listen: bath.ac.uk/campaigns/deadly-…
#NewPodcast #DeadlyIndustryPod
Rob Branston retweeted
January Issue: Researchers explore how cigarette prices changed in response to tax increases between 2016 and 2020 in 12 sub-Saharan African countries using cross-sectional local and WHO regional data, including pricing of both packs and single-sticks. bit.ly/3PJu9mJ @ZainebDanish @JRBranston @BathTR
My new paper with @AllenGallagher_ and our PhD student @BathTR published in @PLOSONE explores #cigarette affordability in #Malaysia 2009-2019 and how to measure it. Affordability increased for most years, showing need for stronger tobacco tax policy doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone…
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Cuts to the UK’s £1m development funding to support implementation of the #WHOFCTC in Lower and Middle Income Countries are expected in today's #budget.
In @TheLancet, we argue that such cuts would harm progress on reducing tobacco use / costs it causes
thelancet.com/journals/lance…
I was proud to be one of the people who signed this important letter to the UK chancellor about #tobacco company #profits and making these companies pay for the harm they cause as part of the UK #Budget tomorrow. #Polluterpays
🆕Doctors & health charities are urging Chancellor @RachelReevesMP to hit tobacco firms with a financial "double whammy"—a windfall tax and an annual levy—to fund Labour’s goal of eradicating smoking in the UK.
ash.org.uk/uploads/ASHletBud…
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Rob Branston retweeted
Our research of industry data has found that tobacco companies make excessive industry #profits in the UK.
This letter from @AshOrgUK, signed by @JRBranston, urges the Chancellor Rachel Reeves to make #BigTobacco pay for preventing the harm from smoking.
#PolluterPays
🆕Doctors & health charities are urging Chancellor @RachelReevesMP to hit tobacco firms with a financial "double whammy"—a windfall tax and an annual levy—to fund Labour’s goal of eradicating smoking in the UK.
ash.org.uk/uploads/ASHletBud…
Rob Branston retweeted
Governments have not raised minimum tobacco taxes in many EU countries, thus making tobacco products more affordable.
A new study in @NTR_Journal looks at Spain's #tobaccotax situation & considers the need for urgent tax review across the EU.
Read more: doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntae162
![“[Spain’s] long-lasting static tax policy leads to higher affordability of tobacco products, worse public health, and loss of government revenue.”](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSRe6i1WcAAAa13.jpg?name=orig)
ALT “[Spain’s] long-lasting static tax policy leads to higher affordability of tobacco products, worse public health, and loss of government revenue.”
Rob Branston retweeted
Dr Rob Branston (@JRBranston) is an Assistant Professor in @BathSofM. He explains how he embraced his nerves to engage policymakers with his research on tobacco control and gave oral evidence to a Parliamentary Committee.
bath.ac.uk/case-studies/dr-r… @UniofBathIPR @BathTR
