IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/23313.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Effects of E-Cigarette Minimum Legal Sale Age Laws on Youth Substance Use

Author

Listed:
  • Dhaval Dave
  • Bo Feng
  • Michael F. Pesko

Abstract

We use difference-in-differences models and individual-level data from the national and state Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) from 2005 to 2015 to examine the effects of e-cigarette Minimum Legal Sale Age (MLSA) laws on youth cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and marijuana use. Our results suggest that these laws increased youth smoking participation by about one percentage point, and approximately half of the increased smoking participation could be attributed to smoking initiation. We find little evidence of higher cigarette smoking persisting beyond the point at which youth age out of the laws. Our results also show little effect of the laws on youth drinking, binge drinking, and marijuana use. Taken together, our findings suggest a possible unintended effect of e-cigarette MLSA laws—rising cigarette use in the short term while youth are restricted from purchasing e-cigarettes.

Suggested Citation

  • Dhaval Dave & Bo Feng & Michael F. Pesko, 2017. "The Effects of E-Cigarette Minimum Legal Sale Age Laws on Youth Substance Use," NBER Working Papers 23313, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23313
    Note: CH EH PE
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w23313.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gregory Colman & Dhaval Dave, 2018. "It'S About Time: Effects Of The Affordable Care Act Dependent Coverage Mandate On Time Use," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(1), pages 44-58, January.
    2. David Neumark & JM Salas & William Wascher, 2014. "More on recent evidence on the effects of minimum wages in the United States," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-26, December.
    3. Benjamin Hansen & Joseph J. Sabia & Daniel I. Rees, 2017. "Have Cigarette Taxes Lost Their Bite? New Estimates of the Relationship between Cigarette Taxes and Youth Smoking," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 3(1), pages 60-75, Winter.
    4. Dee, Thomas S., 1999. "The complementarity of teen smoking and drinking," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 769-793, December.
    5. Friedman, Abigail S., 2015. "How does electronic cigarette access affect adolescent smoking?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 300-308.
    6. repec:oup:alecon:v:17:y:2015:i:2:p:495-528. is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Frank J. Chaloupka & Michael Grossman, 1996. "Price, Tobacco Control Policies and Youth Smoking," NBER Working Papers 5740, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Gruber, Jonathan & Sen, Anindya & Stabile, Mark, 2003. "Estimating price elasticities when there is smuggling: the sensitivity of smoking to price in Canada," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 821-842, September.
    9. Abadie, Alberto & Diamond, Alexis & Hainmueller, Jens, 2010. "Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California’s Tobacco Control Program," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 105(490), pages 493-505.
    10. Jonathan Gruber, 2001. "Risky Behavior among Youths: An Economic Analysis," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number grub01-1.
    11. Crost, Benjamin & Guerrero, Santiago, 2012. "The effect of alcohol availability on marijuana use: Evidence from the minimum legal drinking age," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 112-121.
    12. Frank J. Chaloupka & Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, 1998. "An Examination of Gender and Race Differences in Youth Smoking Responsiveness to Price and Tobacco Control Policies," NBER Working Papers 6541, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Gabriel A. Picone & Frank Sloan & Justin G. Trogdon, 2004. "The effect of the tobacco settlement and smoking bans on alcohol consumption," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(10), pages 1063-1080, October.
    14. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    15. Jonathan Gruber & Jonathan Zinman, 2001. "Youth Smoking in the United States: Evidence and Implications," NBER Chapters, in: Risky Behavior among Youths: An Economic Analysis, pages 69-120, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Rosalie Liccardo Pacula & David Powell & Paul Heaton & Eric L. Sevigny, 2013. "Assessing the Effects of Medical Marijuana Laws on Marijuana and Alcohol Use: The Devil is in the Details," NBER Working Papers 19302, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Justin Wolfers, 2006. "Did Unilateral Divorce Laws Raise Divorce Rates? A Reconciliation and New Results," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1802-1820, December.
    18. Philip DeCicca & Donald Kenkel & Alan Mathios, 2002. "Putting Out the Fires: Will Higher Taxes Reduce the Onset of Youth Smoking?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(1), pages 144-169, February.
    19. Benjamin Hansen & Joseph J. Sabia & Daniel I. Rees, 2017. "Have Cigarette Taxes Lost Their Bite? New Estimates of the Relationship between Cigarette Taxes and Youth Smoking," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 60-75, Winter.
    20. Brett Katzman & Sara Markowitz & Kerry Anne McGeary, 2007. "An empirical investigation of the social market for cigarettes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(10), pages 1025-1039, October.
    21. Anna Choi & Dhaval Dave & Joseph J. Sabia, 2016. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: Medical Marijuana Laws and Tobacco Use," NBER Working Papers 22554, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Carpenter, Christopher & Cook, Philip J., 2008. "Cigarette taxes and youth smoking: New evidence from national, state, and local Youth Risk Behavior Surveys," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 287-299, March.
    23. Stephen G. Donald & Kevin Lang, 2007. "Inference with Difference-in-Differences and Other Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(2), pages 221-233, May.
    24. Rosalie L. Pacula & David Powell & Paul Heaton & Eric L. Sevigny, 2015. "Assessing the Effects of Medical Marijuana Laws on Marijuana Use: The Devil is in the Details," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(1), pages 7-31, January.
    25. Ahmad, Sajjad & Billimek, John, 2007. "Limiting youth access to tobacco: Comparing the long-term health impacts of increasing cigarette excise taxes and raising the legal smoking age to 21 in the United States," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 378-391, March.
    26. Sabia, Joseph J. & Anderson, D. Mark, 2016. "The effect of parental involvement laws on teen birth control use," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 55-62.
    27. D. Mark Anderson & Benjamin Hansen & Daniel I. Rees, 2015. "Medical Marijuana Laws and Teen Marijuana Use," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 17(2), pages 495-528.
    28. Bedard, Kelly & Kuhn, Peter, 2015. "Micro-marketing healthier choices: Effects of personalized ordering suggestions on restaurant purchases," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 106-122.
    29. Abouk, Rahi & Adams, Scott, 2017. "Bans on electronic cigarette sales to minors and smoking among high school students," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 17-24.
    30. Benjamin Hansen & Daniel I. Rees & Joseph J. Sabia, 2013. "Cigarette Taxes and How Youths Obtain Cigarettes," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 66(2), pages 371-394, June.
    31. Joseph J. Sabia & Jeffrey Swigert & Timothy Young, 2017. "The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on Body Weight," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 6-34, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jeff DeSimone & Daniel Grossman & Nicolas Ziebarth, 2023. "Regression Discontinuity Evidence on the Effectiveness of the Minimum Legal E-cigarette Purchasing Age," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(3), pages 461-485.
    2. Rahi Abouk & Scott Adams & Bo Feng & Johanna Catherine Maclean & Michael F. Pesko, 2023. "The effect of e‐cigarette taxes on pre‐pregnancy and prenatal smoking," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(4), pages 908-940, September.
    3. Abouk, Rahi & Courtemanche, Charles & Dave, Dhaval & Feng, Bo & Friedman, Abigail S. & Maclean, Johanna Catherine & Pesko, Michael F. & Sabia, Joseph J. & Safford, Samuel, 2023. "Intended and unintended effects of e-cigarette taxes on youth tobacco use," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    4. Donald S. Kenkel & Sida Peng & Michael F. Pesko & Hua Wang, 2020. "Mostly harmless regulation? Electronic cigarettes, public policy, and consumer welfare," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(11), pages 1364-1377, November.
    5. Dave, Dhaval & Liang, Yang & Pesko, Michael F. & Phillips, Serena & Sabia, Joseph J., 2023. "Have recreational marijuana laws undermined public health progress on adult tobacco use?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Bo Feng & Michael F. Pesko, 2019. "Revisiting the Effects of Tobacco Retailer Compliance Inspections on Youth Tobacco Use," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 5(4), pages 509-532, Fall.
    7. Michael F. Pesko & Charles J. Courtemanche & Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2019. "The Effects of Traditional Cigarette and E-Cigarette Taxes on Adult Tobacco Product Use," NBER Working Papers 26017, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Cotti, Chad & Courtemanche, Charles & Maclean, Joanna Catherine & Nesson, Erik & Pesko, Michael F. & Tefft, Nathan W., 2022. "The effects of e-cigarette taxes on e-cigarette prices and tobacco product sales: Evidence from retail panel data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    9. Erica Louis Mtenga & Michael F. Pesko, 2024. "The effect of vertical identification card laws on teenage tobacco and alcohol use," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(11), pages 2525-2557, November.
    10. Pesko, Michael F. & Currie, Janet M., 2019. "E-cigarette minimum legal sale age laws and traditional cigarette use among rural pregnant teenagers," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 71-90.
    11. Cotti, Chad & Nesson, Erik & Tefft, Nathan, 2018. "The relationship between cigarettes and electronic cigarettes: Evidence from household panel data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 205-219.
    12. Wang, Yikai & Hagedorn, Marcus, 2020. "Differential Fiscal Policy Induced Innovations in Consumer Markets," Economics Discussion Papers 28425, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    13. Hunt Allcott & Charlie Rafkin, 2020. "Optimal Regulation of E-cigarettes: Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 27000, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Hansen, Benjamin & Sabia, Joseph J. & McNichols, Drew & Bryan, Calvin, 2023. "Do tobacco 21 laws work?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    15. Joachim Marti & John Buckell & Johanna Catherine Maclean & Jody Sindelar, 2019. "To “Vape” Or Smoke? Experimental Evidence On Adult Smokers," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(1), pages 705-725, January.
    16. Michael F. Pesko & Charles J. Courtemanche & Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2020. "The effects of traditional cigarette and e-cigarette tax rates on adult tobacco product use," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 229-258, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Erica Louis Mtenga & Michael F. Pesko, 2024. "The effect of vertical identification card laws on teenage tobacco and alcohol use," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(11), pages 2525-2557, November.
    2. Anna Choi & Dhaval Dave & Joseph J. Sabia, 2019. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: Medical Marijuana Laws and Tobacco Cigarette Use," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 5(3), pages 303-333, Summer.
    3. D. Mark Anderson & Kyutaro Matsuzawa & Joseph J. Sabia, 2020. "Cigarette Taxes and Teen Marijuana Use," NBER Working Papers 26780, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Anderson, D. Mark & Matsuzawa, Kyutaro & Sabia, Joseph J., 2020. "Cigarette Taxes and Teen Marijuana Use," IZA Discussion Papers 12980, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Sen Choudhury, Rebecca & Conway, Karen Smith, 2020. "The effect of tobacco policies on youth physical activity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    6. Meier, Armando N. & Odermatt, Reto & Stutzer, Alois, 2021. "Tobacco sales prohibition and teen smoking," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 998-1014.
    7. Michael F. Pesko & Charles J. Courtemanche & Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2020. "The effects of traditional cigarette and e-cigarette tax rates on adult tobacco product use," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 229-258, June.
    8. Zhuang Hao & Benjamin W. Cowan, 2019. "The Effects of Graduation Requirements on Risky Health Behaviors of High School Students," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 5(1), pages 97-125, Winter.
    9. Pearl Bader & David Boisclair & Roberta Ferrence, 2011. "Effects of Tobacco Taxation and Pricing on Smoking Behavior in High Risk Populations: A Knowledge Synthesis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-22, October.
    10. Michael Kvasnicka & Thomas Siedler & Nicolas R. Ziebarth, 2018. "The health effects of smoking bans: Evidence from German hospitalization data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(11), pages 1738-1753, November.
    11. Ceren Ertan Yörük & Barş K. Yörük, 2016. "Do Minimum Legal Tobacco Purchase Age Laws Work?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 34(3), pages 415-429, July.
    12. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Lauren Hersch Nicholas & Keshar M. Ghimire, 2017. "The Impact of State Medical Marijuana Laws on Social Security Disability Insurance and Workers' Compensation Benefit Claiming," Working Papers id:12111, eSocialSciences.
    13. Andrew Friedson & Moyan Li & Katherine Meckel & Daniel I. Rees & Daniel W. Sacks, 2024. "Exposure to cigarette taxes as a teenager and the persistence of smoking into adulthood," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(9), pages 1962-1988, September.
    14. Smart, Rosanna & Doremus, Jacqueline, 2023. "The kids aren’t alright: The effects of medical marijuana market size on adolescents," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    15. Daniel I. Rees & Joseph J. Sabia & Gokhan Kumpas, 2022. "Anti‐Bullying Laws and Suicidal Behaviors Among Teenagers," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 787-823, June.
    16. Michael F. Pesko & Charles J. Courtemanche & Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2019. "The Effects of Traditional Cigarette and E-Cigarette Taxes on Adult Tobacco Product Use," NBER Working Papers 26017, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Lauren Hersch Nicholas & Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2019. "The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on the Health and Labor Supply of Older Adults: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(2), pages 455-480, March.
    18. Abouk, Rahi & Courtemanche, Charles & Dave, Dhaval & Feng, Bo & Friedman, Abigail S. & Maclean, Johanna Catherine & Pesko, Michael F. & Sabia, Joseph J. & Safford, Samuel, 2023. "Intended and unintended effects of e-cigarette taxes on youth tobacco use," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    19. Hersch Nicholas, Lauren & Maclean, J. Catherine, 2017. "The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on the Labor Supply of Older Adults: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study," IZA Discussion Papers 10489, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Erik Nesson, 2017. "The Impact of Tobacco Control Policies on Adolescent Smoking: Comparing Self-Reports and Biomarkers," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 3(4), pages 507-527, Fall.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23313. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.