The Effects of Tobacco 21 Laws on Smoking and Vaping: Evidence from Panel Data and Biomarkers

Chad D. Cotti (), Philip DeCicca () and Erik T. Nesson ()
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Chad D. Cotti: Department of Ag, Food, and Resource Economics Michigan State University and Center for Demography of Health and Aging University of Wisconsin-Madison, https://www.canr.msu.edu/people/chad-cotti
Philip DeCicca: Department of Economics Ball State University Muncie, IN 47303 and NBER
Erik T. Nesson: Wake Forest University, Economics Department, Postal: 1834 Wake Forest Rd., Winston-Salem, NC, 27109, https://sites.google.com/site/eriknesson/home

No 113, Working Papers from Wake Forest University, Economics Department

Abstract: We use data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco Use and Health (PATH), a longitudinal data set including self-reported and biomarker measures of tobacco use, to examine the effects of state-level tobacco 21 (T21) laws on smoking and vaping. T21 laws reduce self-reported cigarette smoking among 18-to-20 year olds, concentrated in males. Initial non-users who “age-out” of treatment are less likely to subsequently initiate self-reported smoking or vaping. Treated smokers are less likely to buy their own cigarettes and more likely to buy cigarettes in a different state. Biomarker results are mixed, and we find some evidence of a reduction in nicotine exposure but less evidence for a reduction in exposure to tobacco. Finally, we test for non-classical measurement error. T21 laws reduce the probability that clinically identified likely cigarette smokers self-report as smokers, which may increase the apparent effect of T21 laws on cigarette smoking as measured by self-reports.

Keywords: Tobacco T21; Smoking; Vaping; Biomarkers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I18 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 52 pages
Date: 2024-08-30
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-law
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:wfuewp:0113

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