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The impact of a federal cigarette minimum pack price policy on cigarette use in the USA
  1. Nathan J Doogan,
  2. Mary Ellen Wewers,
  3. Micah Berman
  1. College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Nathan J Doogan, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Rm 200a, 1841 Neil Ave, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; doogan.1{at}osu.edu

Abstract

Background Increasing cigarette prices reduce cigarette use. The US Food and Drug Administration has the authority to regulate the sale and promotion—and therefore the price—of tobacco products.

Objective To examine the potential effect of federal minimum price regulation on the sales of cigarettes in the USA.

Method We used yearly state-level data from the Tax Burden on Tobacco and other sources to model per capita cigarette sales as a function of price. We used the fitted model to compare the status quo sales with counterfactual scenarios in which a federal minimum price was set. The minimum price scenarios ranged from $0 to $12.

Results The estimated price effect in our model was comparable with that found in the literature. Our counterfactual analyses suggested that the impact of a minimum price requirement could range from a minimal effect at the $4 level to a reduction of 5.7 billion packs sold per year and 10 million smokers at the $10 level.

Conclusion A federal minimum price policy has the potential to greatly benefit tobacco control and public health by uniformly increasing the price of cigarettes and by eliminating many price-reducing strategies currently available to both sellers and consumers.

  • Price
  • Economics
  • Advertising and Promotion

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Footnotes

  • Contributors NJD devised the study with the support of MEW and MLB. NJD also retrieved, processed and analysed the data, formed an initial draft of the manuscript and submitted the manuscript. MEW and MLB contributed to the interpretation and writing processes substantially with their extensive expertise in tobacco control and relevant legal matters.

  • Funding This research was supported by grant number P50CA180908 from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration Center for Tobacco Products (CTP).

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.