Smoking Behavior in China
China inhabits one third of smokers in the world. There are over 350 million daily smokers in China, including 46 percent of all men and only 2 percent of all women. When occasional smokers are considered, over 60 percent of men in China are smokers. Studies on smoking behavior and potential policy interventions in China are of high socioeconomic importance. This session brings together three papers on smoking behavior in China. The first paper utilizes relative price changes to investigate how consumers choose among cigarettes of different quality grades and derives implications for tobacco taxation policy in China. The second paper examines how prevalence of weight control belief among Chinese smokers affects their reactions to tobacco control polices in terms of cigarette consumption and quit attempts. The third paper explores smoking behavior in response to unbalanced sex ratios in the marriage market and the resulting pressure to get married. Therefore, effective tobacco cessation policies in China should take demographic factors into consideration.