Risks of substance abuse: smoking and alcohol
The three papers of this session examine how smoking and alcohol pose risks for individuals and society at large. The Kostaova and Choloupka paper uses tobacco price data and pseudo longitudinal data from six provinces in China from the 2010 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) to estimate the price elasticity of demand. Results from this study can be used to better understand potential responses to tobacco taxes in China, which is an important policy issue. The Sindelar paper estimates the demand for e-cigarettes which may improve or worsen health depending on how they are used, e.g. will smokers use e-cigarettes to get around smoking bans or to quit. We conduct an online discrete choice experiment of the demand for e-cigarettes as substitutes or complements to tobacco cigarettes focusing on the demand as a function of three key attributes. We produce information that will be useful for regulation of e-cigarettes. The Tefft, Cotti, and Dunn study seeks to quantify the effect of on-premises alcohol consumption (e.g., at bars and restaurants) relative to off-premises consumption (e.g., purchases from supermarkets, convenience stores and liquor stores) on two outcomes: the probability of driving after a binge-drinking episode and the number of fatal motor vehicle crashes. Further, it investigates how these relationships vary by the type of alcohol purchased. There are several policy implications including where to best focus policies to reduce drunk driving crashes.