@techreport{NBERw6348,
 title = "Adolescent Alcohol and Marijuana Consumption: Is There Really a Gateway Effect?",
 author = "Rosalie Liccardo Pacula",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "6348",
 year = "1998",
 month = "January",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w6348",
 abstract = {This research analyzes the contemporaneous and intertemporal relationship between the demands for alcohol and marijuana by youths and young adults.  A general theory of multi-commodity habit formation is developed and tested using data from the 1983-1984 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.  An Adjusted Tobit specification is employed for estimating the empirical model.  Habit persistence is distinguished from unobserved heterogeneity through a reduced form instrumental variable technique.  The results show that higher beer prices significantly reduce the demand for both alcohol and marijuana, indicating a contemporaneous complementarity between these two substances even after controlling for commodity-specific habit formation.  Further, prior use of alcohol and cigarettes significantly increases the likelihood of currently using marijuana, providing evidence in support of the gateway hypothesis.},
}