The compensating behavior of smokers: taxes, tar, and nicotine

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Evans, WN; Farrelly, MC
• 署名单位: University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park; Research Triangle Institute; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: RAND JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0741-6261
• DOI: 10.2307/2556105
• 发表日期: 1998
• 页码: 578-595
• 关键词: rational addiction; cigarette industry; lung-cancer; smoking; price; taxation; alcohol; yield; RISK

摘要

Using data from the 1979 and 1987 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), we test whether smokers alter their smoking habits in the face of higher taxes. Smokers in high-tax states are more likely to smoke cigarettes higher in tar and nicotine. Although tares reduce the number of cigarettes consumed per day among remaining smokers, total daily tar and nicotine intake is unaffected. Young smokers, aged 18-24, are much more responsive to changes in taxes than are older smokers, and their total daily tar and nicotine intake actually increases after a tax hike. We illustrate that tax-induced compensating behavior may eliminate some health benefits generated by reduced smoking participation. A more appropriate tax might be based on the tar and nicotine content of cigarettes.