Bans on electronic cigarette sales to minors and smoking among high school students

Rahi Abouk and Scott Adams ()

Journal of Health Economics, 2017, vol. 54, issue C, 17-24

Abstract: Many states have banned electronic cigarette sales to minors under the rationale that using e-cigarettes leads to smoking traditional combustion cigarettes. Such sales bans would be counterproductive, however, if e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes are substitutes, as bans might push teenagers back to smoking the more dangerous combustion cigarettes. We provide evidence that these sales bans reduce the incidence of smoking conventional cigarettes among high school seniors. Moreover, we provide evidence suggesting that sales bans reduced e-cigarette usage as well. This evidence suggests that not only are e-cigarettes and smoking regular cigarettes positively related and not substitutes for young people, banning retail sales to minors is an effective policy tool in reducing tobacco use.

Keywords: Electronic cigarettes; Youth smoking; Retail regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (37)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:54:y:2017:i:c:p:17-24

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.03.003

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