TY - JOUR T1 - The power of tax and price JF - Tobacco Control JO - Tob Control SP - 391 LP - 392 DO - 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050235 VL - 20 IS - 6 AU - Frank J Chaloupka AU - John A Tauras Y1 - 2011/11/01 UR - http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/20/6/391.abstract N2 - In this issue, Kostova and colleagues provide the strongest evidence to date on the effectiveness of higher cigarette prices in reducing youth smoking in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Their analysis of data from multiple waves of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) conducted in 17 LMICs between 1999 and 2006 shows that increased cigarette prices would lead to significant reductions in both youth smoking prevalence and the number of cigarettes consumed by youth who continue to smoke. Specifically, they estimate that increasing cigarette prices by 10% would reduce the prevalence of youth smoking by at least 7.4%, while reducing young smokers' cigarette intake by nearly 14%. These findings confirm the findings from the relatively extensive research from high-income countries, as well as the smaller but growing evidence from individual LMICs, which clearly shows that youth smoking responds to price.1 Moreover, Kostova and colleagues' estimates add to the evidence that smoking among young people responds more to price than does smoking among adults. Their estimated overall price elasticity of youth smoking of −2.11 is well above the estimates obtained for the price elasticity of adult … ER -