IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/yor/yorken/06-23.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The 'weight of evidence' concerning tobacco harm: beliefs in mid-twentieth century America

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Forster
  • Martin Walsh
  • Sue Bowden

Abstract

We present a version of Chern et al.'s (1995) Bayesian model of `health risk belief' to track the evolution of the `weight' of epidemiological evidence concerning tobacco harm that was in the possession of the U.S. Tobacco Industry Research Committee (T.I.R.C.) and the U.S. Public Health Service and related groups during the 1950s and early 1960s. We compare our results with public statements assessing the evidence that were made by the organisations during the same period. The results from the models for the U.S. Public Health Service and related groups are not in disagreement with the public statements of these organisations; the results from the lung cancer model for the T.I.R.C. are in disagreement with the assessments of the evidence made by the T.I.R.C.'s Scientific Director in his annual reports. We discuss possible reasons for this, relating our findings to present-day academic and legal debates about the `controversy' surrounding tobacco harm during the mid-twentieth century.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Forster & Martin Walsh & Sue Bowden, 2006. "The 'weight of evidence' concerning tobacco harm: beliefs in mid-twentieth century America," Discussion Papers 06/23, Department of Economics, University of York.
    • Handle: RePEc:yor:yorken:06/23
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.york.ac.uk/media/economics/documents/discussionpapers/2006/0623.pdf
    File Function: Main text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chern, Wen S & Loehman, Edna T & Yen, Steven T, 1995. "Information, Health Risk Beliefs, and the Demand for Fats and Oils," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 77(3), pages 555-564, August.
    2. Deborah J. Brown & Lee F. Schrader, 1990. "Cholesterol Information and Shell Egg Consumption," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 72(3), pages 548-555.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Variyam, Jayachandran N. & Blaylock, James R. & Smallwood, David, 1997. "Diet-Health Information and Nutrition: The Intake of Dietary Fats and Cholesterol," Technical Bulletins 156800, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Gaggero, A. & Gil, J. & Jiménez-Rubio, D. & Zucchelli, E., 2021. "Health information and lifestyle behaviours: the impact of a diabetes diagnosis," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 21/02, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    3. Luciana Juvenal & Paulo Santos Monteiro, 2024. "Risky Gravity," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(4), pages 1590-1627.
    4. Bo Xiong & Daniel Sumner & William Matthews, 2014. "A new market for an old food: the U.S. demand for olive oil," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(S1), pages 107-118, November.
    5. Paudel, Laxmi & Adhikari, Murali & Houston, Jack E., 2005. "Assessing the Impacts of Low Carbohydrate Related Health Information on the Market Demand for US Vegetables," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19541, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    6. Rodolfo Nayga, 2001. "Effect of Schooling on Obesity: Is Health Knowledge a Moderating Factor?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 129-137.
    7. Aldrich, Lorna, 1999. "Consumer Use of Information: Implications for Food Policy," Miscellaneous Publications 330083, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    8. Yen, Steven T. & Lin, Biing-Hwan & Davis, Christopher G., 2008. "Consumer knowledge and meat consumption at home and away from home," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 631-639, December.
    9. Stefano Castriota & Marco Delmastro & Mirco Tonin, 2023. "National or local infodemic? The demand for news in Italy during COVID-19," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 507-536, December.
    10. Goodwin, Barry K. & Harper, Daniel C. & Schnepf, Randall D., 2003. "Short-Run Demand Relationships in the U.S. Fats and Oils Complex," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 35(1), pages 1-14, April.
    11. Mancino, Lisa & Kuchler, Fred & Leibtag, Ephraim, 2008. "Getting consumers to eat more whole-grains: The role of policy, information, and food manufacturers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 489-496, December.
    12. Huffman, Sonya K. & Ishdorj, Ariun & Jensen, Helen H., 2005. "Consumer Choices and Welfare Gains from New, Healthy Products: A Virtual Prices Approach," ISU General Staff Papers 200501010800001012, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    13. Adhikari, Murali & Paudel, Laxmi & Houston, Jack E. & Paudel, Krishna P. & Bukenya, James O., 2006. "The Impact of Cholesterol Information on Meat Demand: Application of an Updated Cholesterol Index," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 37(2), pages 1-10, July.
    14. Moon, Wanki & Balasubramanian, Siva K. & Rimal, Arbindra, 2011. "Health claims and consumers' behavioral intentions: The case of soy-based food," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 480-489, August.
    15. Moon, Wanki, 2002. "Estimating The Effect Of Health Knowledge In The Consumption Of Soy-Based Foods," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19681, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    16. Gaggero, Alessio & Gil, Joan & Jiménez-Rubio, Dolores & Zucchelli, Eugenio, 2022. "Does health information affect lifestyle behaviours? The impact of a diabetes diagnosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    17. Rimal, Arbindra & Balasubramanian, Siva K. & Moon, Wanki, 2004. "Two-Stage Decision Model Of Soy Food Consumption Behavior," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20096, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    18. Murali Adhikari & Laxmi Paudel & Krishna Paudel & Jack Houston & James Bukenya, 2007. "Impact of low carbohydrate information on vegetable demands in the United States," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(13), pages 939-944.
    19. Emily Oster, 2020. "Health Recommendations and Selection in Health Behaviors," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 143-160, June.
    20. Shimshack, Jay P. & Ward, Michael B., 2010. "Mercury advisories and household health trade-offs," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 674-685, September.

    More about this item

    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:yor:yorken:06/23. 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: Paul Hodgson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deyoruk.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.