Youth Smoking, Cigarette Prices, and Anti-smoking Sentiment

In this paper, we develop a new direct measure of state anti-smoking sentiment and merge it with micro-data on youth smoking in 1992 and 2000. The empirical results from the cross-sectional models show two consistent patterns: after controlling for differences in state anti-smoking sentiment, the price of cigarettes has a weak and statistically, insignificant influence on smoking participation, and state anti-smoking sentiment appears to have a potentially important influence on youth smoking participation. The cross-sectional results are corroborated by results from the discrete time hazard models of smoking initiation that include state-fixed effects. However, there is evidence of price-responsiveness in the conditional cigarette demand by youth and young adult smokers.