Intended and Unintended Effects of E-cigarette Taxes on Youth Tobacco Use

Rahi Abouk (), Charles Courtemanche, Dhaval M. Dave (), Bo Feng, Abigail S. Friedman, J. Catherine Maclean (), Michael Pesko, Joseph J. Sabia () and Samuel Safford ()
Additional contact information
Rahi Abouk: William Paterson University
Dhaval M. Dave: Bentley University
Bo Feng: American Institutes for Research
Abigail S. Friedman: Yale University
J. Catherine Maclean: Temple University
Joseph J. Sabia: San Diego State University
Samuel Safford: San Diego State University

No 15655, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: Over the past decade, rising youth use of e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) has contributed to aggressive regulation by state and local governments. Between 2010 and mid-2019, ten states and two large counties adopted ENDS taxes. We use two large national surveys (Monitoring the Future and the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System) to estimate the impact of ENDS taxes on youth tobacco use. We find that ENDS taxes reduce youth ENDS consumption, with estimated ENDS tax elasticities of -0.06 to -0.21. However, we estimate sizable positive cigarette cross-tax effects, suggesting economic substitution between cigarettes and ENDS for youth. These substitution effects are particularly large for frequent cigarette smoking. We conclude that the unintended effects of ENDS taxation may considerably undercut or even outweigh any public health gains.

Keywords: vaping; e-cigarettes; electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS); cigarettes; smoking; taxes; youth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H2 I1 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 70 pages
Date: 2022-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-pub
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Journal of Health Economics, 2023, 87, 102720

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Related works:
Journal Article: Intended and unintended effects of e-cigarette taxes on youth tobacco use (2023)
Working Paper: Intended and Unintended Effects of E-cigarette Taxes on Youth Tobacco Use (2021)
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