Another possible macroeconomic effect of cost growth containment is a short-run impact on unemployment and employment.

WHITEHOUSE: CEA -- Chair's Remarks -- 06082009

In the short-run it may succeed, though at the potential cost of replacing promised fiscal austerity and state reform with modest helpings of old-fashioned pork.

ECONOMIST: A search for political allies

But a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the financial impact of a 50-cent-per-pack increase in cigarette taxes shows that while cutting the number of smokers trims government outlays over the short run, the increased longevity and higher end-of-life expenses of non-smokers eventually would cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars more from Medicare and Social Security.

FORBES: Fewer Smokers Means Higher Taxpayer Costs, Study Finds