An Examination of Gender and Race Differences in Youth Smoking Responsiveness to Price and Tobacco Control Policies

Nationally representative studies consistently report significant gender and racial differences in youth smoking rates, although little research has been done to explain why. In this paper we examine one possible source for this variation: differences in youth responsiveness to changes in price or tobacco control policies. Using data from the 1992-1994 Monitoring the Future surveys, we find that young men are much more responsive to changes in the price of cigarettes than young women. The participation elasticity for men is almost twice as large as that for women. Further, we find that smoking rates of young black men are significantly more responsive to changes in price than young white men. In addition, we find significant differences in responsiveness to particular tobacco control policies. Smoking rates among white youths are responsive to anti-tobacco activities and clean indoor air restrictions, while smoking rates among black youths are significantly influenced by smoker protection laws and restrictions on youth access.