Smoking prevalence in Australia and types of unemployment

Running head: ECONOMICS 1
Economics
Name:
Institution:

ECONOMICS 2
Smoking prevalence in Australia
In Australia, one in seven 14 % of the population at the age of 15 and above uses tobacco
products Davidson & Silva (2018). Former smokers account for 30% of the population whereas
more than 200,000 smoke sporadically, and 55% are non-smokers. The rate of smoking among
men and women increases with age and the highest ages are 25 and 44. There was a decrease in
smoking rate by 36% Australia by the year 2001.The decrease in smoking rate is due to people
quittting the use of tobacco products and other people not starting to smoke.
In India, 30% of the adult males smoke (W.H.O). Approximately 24% of the children
below the age of 16 have used tobacco in the past years, and 14% of them are still using it. There
was an increase in smoking rate between the year 1998 and 2015. Over 1 billion people smoke
cigarettes globally, men account for 800 million which leaves the 200 million as women. In as
much as smoking rates have declined in first world countries especially among men, tobacco
consumption in third world and developing countries is on the rise.

ECONOMICS 3
When the demand for a cigarette is less elastic, and the government imposes a $3 tax on
cigarettes, the $3 will shift the marginal cost curve s=mc upwards from s2 to s1. The price per
packet will increase and the quantity demanded will decrease. The producers will incur the
additional cost of $3 tax which they must pay to the government. When the demand for
cigarettes is elastic, the tax burden on consumers will decrease while that of producers will
increase since the quantity supplied will be sensitive to price.