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Just passing through: the effect of the Master Settlement Agreement on estimated cigarette tax price pass-through

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  • Dean R. Lillard
  • Andrew Sfekas

Abstract

In 1998, cigarette manufacturers and state attorneys general in the United States settled a group of lawsuits in an agreement known as the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA). Among the provisions of this agreement were a set of mandated escrow payments to the states that would be based on cigarette sales. The result of these provisions is that the apparent relationship between taxes and prices changed substantially following implementation of the MSA. This article estimates whether the MSA escrow amounts are reflected in prices and compares the pass-through rate of state and federal cigarette taxes only and the rate when one adds escrow payments. We find much different pass-through rates for the two measures. State and federal taxes are not fully passed to smokers. In years that escrow payments were made, cigarette prices increased by more than the sum of the state and federal taxes and the escrow payments.

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  • Dean R. Lillard & Andrew Sfekas, 2013. "Just passing through: the effect of the Master Settlement Agreement on estimated cigarette tax price pass-through," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 353-357, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:apeclt:v:20:y:2013:i:4:p:353-357
    DOI: 10.1080/13504851.2012.705422
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    Cited by:

    1. Pierre Dubois & Rachel Griffith & Martin O'Connell, 2020. "How Well Targeted Are Soda Taxes?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(11), pages 3661-3704, November.
    2. Wang, Xiaojin & Zheng, Yuqing & Reed, Michael & Zhen, Chen, 2015. "Cigarette Tax Pass-Through by Product Characteristics: Evidence from Nielsen ScanTrack Data," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205375, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Benjamin Hansen & Daniel I. Rees & Joseph J. Sabia, 2013. "Cigarette Taxes and How Youths Obtain Cigarettes," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 66(2), pages 371-394, June.
    4. Cotti, Chad & Courtemanche, Charles & Maclean, Joanna Catherine & Nesson, Erik & Pesko, Michael F. & Tefft, Nathan W., 2022. "The effects of e-cigarette taxes on e-cigarette prices and tobacco product sales: Evidence from retail panel data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    5. Rebekka Christopoulou & Ahmed Jaber & Dean R. Lillard, 2013. "The Inter-generational and Social Transmission of Cultural Traits: Theory and Evidence from Smoking Behavior," NBER Working Papers 19304, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Zheng, Hualu & Huang, Lu, 2014. "The Incidence of Soda Taxes with Imperfect Information and Strategic Firm Behavior," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170201, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Lillard, Dean R. & Molloy, Eamon & Sfekas, Andrew, 2013. "Smoking initiation and the iron law of demand," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 114-127.

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