Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

We explore the effect of e-cigarette disposable and refill cartridge prices on youth use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes. We document substantial price variation from 2011 to 2015 in e-cigarette prices from 35,000 retailers participating in the Nielsen retail data system. We match this price variation to survey data on current use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes for over 80,000 11-17 year olds from the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS). We find that higher e-cigarette cartridge prices reduce e-cigarette use and increase current cigarette consumption, especially for males and for older teenagers. Our results suggest that on average e-cigarettes reduce youth smoking.