Is Cigarette Smoking in Poorer Nations Highly Sensitive to Price? Evidence from Russia and China
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We examine cigarette demand in China and Russia using longitudinal micro-level household and community surveys. Previous developing-country price elasticity estimates of around −0.75 have been larger than United States estimates of about −0.4, but the former have relied primarily on aggregate data. In contrast, our micro-level price elasticity estimates in China and Russia range from 0 to −0.15. Thus, raising prices in poorer countries may not reduce smoking to the degree previously suggested.
JOUR
Lance, Peter M.
Akin, John S.
Dow, William H.
Loh, Chung-Ping
2004
Journal of Health Economics
23
1
173-89
10.1016/j.jhealeco.2003.09.004
226