Department of Economics, Finance and Global Business, William Paterson University, United States.
Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, United States.
J Health Econ. 2017 Jul;54:17-24. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.03.003. Epub 2017 Mar 18.
Many states have banned electronic cigarette sales to minors under the rationale that using e-cigarettes leads to smoking traditional combustion cigarettes. Such sales bans would be counterproductive, however, if e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes are substitutes, as bans might push teenagers back to smoking the more dangerous combustion cigarettes. We provide evidence that these sales bans reduce the incidence of smoking conventional cigarettes among high school seniors. Moreover, we provide evidence suggesting that sales bans reduced e-cigarette usage as well. This evidence suggests that not only are e-cigarettes and smoking regular cigarettes positively related and not substitutes for young people, banning retail sales to minors is an effective policy tool in reducing tobacco use.
许多州已经禁止向未成年人销售电子烟，其理由是使用电子烟会导致吸食传统可燃香烟。然而，如果电子烟和传统香烟是替代品，那么此类销售禁令将适得其反，因为禁令可能会迫使青少年转而吸食更危险的可燃香烟。我们提供的证据表明，这些销售禁令减少了高中生吸烟的发生率。此外，我们提供的证据表明，销售禁令也减少了电子烟的使用。这一证据表明，电子烟和吸食传统香烟不仅对年轻人具有正相关性，而且不是替代品，禁止向未成年人零售电子烟是减少烟草使用的有效政策工具。
