According to The World Bank report "Curbing the Epidemic. Governments and the Economics of Tobacco Control", a reduction in consumption of tobacco would not necessarily translate into fewer jobs. It points out that tobacco production is a small part of the economies of most countries. For most countries there would be no net loss of jobs if global consumption fell. The report suggests that there may even be net gains because the money spent on tobacco would then be spent on other goods and services.

Even for those heavily dependant countries such as Malawi or Zimbabwe, global demand would not go down so drastically as to affect them in this generation. As the absolute number of smokers increases this will ensure a big enough market to keep the current generation of tobacco farmers in business. Any slow down in demand will happen so gradually that it will allow for an equally slow process of adjustment for those most directly affected. Supply reduction is largely ineffective, and the report argues against price supports and subsidies, given they make little sense in a framework of sound agricultural and trade policies.

In the words of Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director General of WHO, the biggest cost of tobacco lies in its health impact. Currently, four million people die every year due to tobacco. This is expected to rise to 10 million by 2030, with most of the deaths occurring in developing countries. As the rich increasingly abandon smoking; the health burdens are highest in the poor. Health, and not economic arguments, are the reason for controlling tobacco. Economic arguments are usually raised by the tobacco industry as an obstacle to tobacco control policies.