Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. “My most important contribution to the [broadcasting] industry has been the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Network, because it was the biggest thing that ever happened in radio and because more people listened to it – all around the world.” – Dick Fairbanks, interviewed in In the Public Interest* For many Hoosiers, the month of May means only one thing: it’s race time. Throughout the month, lifelong Hoosiers and visitors from around the globe come to Indianapolis to celebrate the Greatest Spectacle in Racing – the Indianapolis 500. From the annual 500 Festival Mini-Marathon and the 500 Festival Parade downtown, […]

Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. Smokers, like all people, respond to incentives. One powerful incentive is price. When something becomes more expensive, people are less likely to consume that item. This fact is borne out in the extensive literature on the impact of cigarette taxes on smoking: As prices rise through taxes, fewer people smoke. This happens by keeping non-smokers, including youth, from starting in the first place and by encouraging current smokers to quit. But do increases in cigarette taxes in one state incentivize smokers (or tobacco retailers and wholesalers) to cross the border into neighboring states where cigarettes […]