Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Front Public Health. 2022 Apr 5;10:851740. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.851740. eCollection 2022.
Only 13% of the world's population are living in countries imposing appropriate tobacco tax-rates. This study aims to promote the implementation of price policy measures as a striking tobacco control strategy in Austria and to encourage other countries to further increase their taxes to WHO best-practice levels.
This study used the yearly economic data from Austria from 1997 to 2015. Applying a model for regression analysis, the price elasticity of total tobacco consumption was estimated.
Between 1997 and 2015 the price elasticity of demand for tobacco products (including cigarettes, cigars, and other tobaccos) was -0.661, however, the result is statistically insignificant. When excluding 2 anomalous years and removing a variable of the regression model the elasticity was -0.691 and statistically significant, indicating that a 1% increase in tobacco prices will result in a 0.691% decrease of tobacco consumption.
The responsiveness of Austrian smokers to price changes has increased during the last decades. Because other activities showed no significance in the analysis, this study should encourage countries world-wide to use price policy and taxation more intensively in order to reduce smoking rates effectively.
全球仅有 13%的人口生活在对烟草征收适当税费的国家。本研究旨在推动奥地利实施价格政策措施，将其作为一项显著的控烟策略，并鼓励其他国家进一步提高烟草税，以达到世卫组织的最佳实践水平。
本研究使用了奥地利 1997 年至 2015 年的年度经济数据。通过回归分析模型，估算了总烟草消费的需求价格弹性。
1997 年至 2015 年间，烟草产品（包括香烟、雪茄和其他烟草制品）的需求价格弹性为-0.661，但结果在统计学上并不显著。当排除 2 个异常年份并从回归模型中移除一个变量后，弹性为-0.691，且在统计学上显著，表明烟草价格每上涨 1%，烟草消费将下降 0.691%。
过去几十年来，奥地利吸烟者对价格变化的反应能力有所增强。由于其他因素在分析中没有显示出显著影响，本研究应鼓励全球各国更积极地利用价格政策和税收，以有效降低吸烟率。
