Research by IGPA economist David Merriman, who also is head of the Department of Economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was featured by the Chicago Tribune in a report about cigarette taxes.

An excerpt from the story:

In 2006, city revenues from cigarette taxes came in at a little less than $32 million. By 2008, they had declined to about $25 million. This year, they're projected to drop again.

"In most places, tax increases lead to increased revenues," said David Merriman, a University of Illinois at Chicago economist who has studied cigarette-tax avoidance worldwide for 15 years. "Chicago would be the only place I know of where it's gone the other way."

Read the entire story at the Tribune's website.