Evan Blecher is an Economist in the International Tobacco Control Research Program at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, Georgia. Evan is a native of Cape Town, South Africa and received his Bachelors degree in Economics and Business Strategy from the University of Cape Town and an MA in Economics with Distinction from the University of the West of England, Bristol. Evan has published articles in numerous journals including Tobacco Control, the South African Journal of Economics, the South African Medical Journal, the Journal of Health Economics and Trends in Organized Crime. He has recently coauthored a textbook for undergraduate economics students in South Africa published by Oxford University Press and is currently an author for the NCI Monograph on the Economics of Tobacco Control and the IARC Handbook on the Effectiveness of Tax and Price Policies for Tobacco Control.
Evan’s research focuses on the economics of tobacco control, particularly in developing countries, and covers issues including cigarette affordability, taxation, illicit trade, smoke free areas and advertising bans. His research has been an influence on policy in South Africa and globally. He has appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health in South Africa on numerous occasions. Prior to joining the American Cancer Society he held positions as a Lecturer in the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town and as a Researcher in the Health Economics Unit, School of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town. He has also been an Adjunct Lecturer at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town.
