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The effect of cigarette prices on youth smoking
Author(s) -
Ross Hana,
Chaloupka Frank J.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.709
Subject(s) - youth smoking , economics , smoke , econometrics , cigarette smoking , smoking epidemiology , monitoring the future , environmental health , medicine , advertising , tobacco control , business , engineering , substance abuse , population , nursing , public health , psychiatry , waste management
Prior economic research provides mixed evidence on the impact of cigarette prices on youth smoking. This paper empirically tests the effects of various price measures on youth demand for cigarettes using data collected in a recent nationally representative survey of 17 287 high school students. In addition to commonly used cigarette price measures, the study also examined the effect of price as perceived by the students. This unique information permits the study of the effect of teen‐specific price on cigarette demand. The analysis employed a two‐part model of cigarette demand based on a model developed by Cragg (1971) in which the propensity to smoke and the intensity of the smoking habit are modeled separately. The results confirm that higher cigarette prices, irrespective of the way they are measured, reduce probability of youth cigarette smoking. There is also some evidence of negative price effect on smoking intensity, but it is sensitive to the price measure used in the model. The largest impact on cigarette demand has the teen‐specific, perceived price of cigarettes. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.