DO MINIMUM LEGAL TOBACCO PURCHASE AGE LAWS WORK?

Ceren Ertan Yörük and Barş K. Yörük
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Barış K. Yörük

Contemporary Economic Policy, 2016, vol. 34, issue 3, 415-429

Abstract: type="main" xml:id="coep12153-abs-0001"> This paper uses a regression discontinuity design to estimate the impact of the minimum legal tobacco purchase age (MLTPA) laws on smoking behavior among young adults. Using data from the confidential version of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997 Cohort), which contains information on the exact birth date of the respondents, we find that the impact of the MLTPA on several indicators of smoking among youth is moderate but often statistically insignificant. However, for those who reported to have smoked before, we show that granting legal access to cigarettes and tobacco products at the MLTPA leads to an increase in several indicators of smoking participation, including up to a 5 percentage point increase in the probability of smoking. These results imply that policies that are designed to restrict youth access to tobacco may only be effective in reducing smoking behavior among certain groups of young adults. (JEL I10, I18, I19)

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/coep.2016.34.issue-3 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Do Minimum Legal Tobacco Purchase Age Laws Work? (2014)
Working Paper: Do minimum legal tobacco purchase age laws work? (2013)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:34:y:2016:i:3:p:415-429

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://ordering.onl ... 5-7287&ref=1465-7287

Access Statistics for this article

Contemporary Economic Policy is currently edited by Brad R. Humphreys

More articles in Contemporary Economic Policy from Western Economic Association International Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().