China has the world’s largest smoking population. Is it harming the economy?

A recent incident in Shenzhen that went viral has put China’s widespread smoking habit under renewed scrutiny, reviving a long-running debate over whether Beijing should raise tobacco taxes for the first time in more than a decade.
On a rainy afternoon in April, a woman asked a smoker to put out a cigarette at a busy bus stop where nearly 10 people were waiting.

The request led to a heated exchange, with the smoker arguing it was a public space, and ended with him throwing a plastic bottle at...