Death and tobacco taxes

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Moore, MJ
• 署名单位: National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: RAND JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0741-6261
• DOI: 10.2307/2555934
• 发表日期: 1996
• 页码: 415-428
• 关键词: rational addiction; cigarette-smoking; panel data; taxation; alcohol; demand

摘要

This article analyzes the effect of tobacco excise tax changes on mortality. Reduced-form regressions of mortality rates on tobacco taxes for the years 1954-1988, with controls for state, year, income, alcoholic beverage taxes, age distribution, and unobserved health trends indicate that tax increases lead to statistically significant decreases in smoking-related mortality. Evidence on the complementary relationship between alcohol and tobacco as it relates to health outcomes is also presented. A 10% increase in the tobacco tax is projected to save over 6,000 lives a year.