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An examination of gender and race differences in youth smoking responsiveness to price and tobacco control policies ABSTRACT 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.
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