The continuum-of-addiction: Cigarette smoking in relation to price among Americans aged 15-29

We studied the relationship between current cigarette smoking and price amo ng 34145 respondents, aged 15-29 years, to the 1992-1993 Tobacco Use Supple ments to the Current Population Survey. The price elasticity of current smo king varied inversely with age: -0.831 (S.E. 0.402) for ages 15-17; -0.524 (S.E. 0.256) for ages 18-20; -0.370 (S.E. 0.188) for ages 21-23; -0.202 (S. E. 0.175) for ages 24-26; and -0.095 (S.E. 0.157) for ages 27-29. In respon se to higher prices, older youth were more likely to reduce the number of c igarettes smoked per day than to quit entirely. Among 15-17-year-olds, smok ing cigarettes 'some days' was more sensitive to price than smoking 'every day'. Cigarette smoking was inversely related to the prices of premium bran ds, but not discount brands. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.