You are correct. Prices do not cause people to stop smoking very often.
They do discourage people from beginnging to smoke.
On Mon, Nov 20, 2000 at 11:16:40AM +1000, Rob Schaap wrote:
>
> I don't say prices don't convince some to quit the habit, but, by and large,
> smokers are addicts, and that rather defeats price elasticity. Also, as the
> public assault on smoking has been so concerted for so long, it is hard to
> say how much of the decline in smoking is down to the enormous price rises
> here. I do know that poorer people and women now smoke more than any other
> group in this country (indeed, young women are taking to it with gusto -
> perhaps tobacco's residual image as symbol of quasi-male power projection is
> a factor, or its new-found rebellious odour - that and the fact that tobacco
> is a form of self-medication for the stresses that attend lower-order
> employment - where boredom and tension (both inspirational of the craving,
> I've found to my cost) are paradoxically and perpetually coexistent.
> There's something very convivial about sharing a cancerous cloud, too. At
> any rate, my gut feeling is your thesis might not hold.
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
