IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/26692.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Cigarette Taxes and Smoking Among Sexual Minority Adults

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher Carpenter
  • Dario Sansone

Abstract

We provide the first quasi-experimental evidence on the relationship between cigarette taxes and sexual minority adult smoking by studying individuals in same-sex households (a large share of whom are in same-sex romantic relationships) from the 1996-2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. We find that cigarette taxes significantly reduced smoking among men and women in same-sex households, and the effects we find for men in same-sex households are significantly larger than the associated effects for men in different-sex households (the vast majority of whom are heterosexual married/partnered men). This result suggests that the sizable disparities in adult smoking rates between heterosexual and sexual minority men would have been even larger in the absence of stricter tobacco control policy. In line with previous research indicating that cigarette taxes have ‘lost their bite’, we find no significant relationship between cigarette taxes and sexual minority smoking in more recent years.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Carpenter & Dario Sansone, 2020. "Cigarette Taxes and Smoking Among Sexual Minority Adults," NBER Working Papers 26692, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26692
    Note: EH
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w26692.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kevin Callison & Robert Kaestner, 2014. "Do Higher Tobacco Taxes Reduce Adult Smoking? New Evidence Of The Effect Of Recent Cigarette Tax Increases On Adult Smoking," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 155-172, January.
    2. Diana S. Lien & William N. Evans, 2005. "Estimating the Impact of Large Cigarette Tax Hikes: The Case of Maternal Smoking and Infant Birth Weight," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(2).
    3. Carpenter, Christopher & Cook, Philip J., 2008. "Cigarette taxes and youth smoking: New evidence from national, state, and local Youth Risk Behavior Surveys," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 287-299, March.
    4. Matthew Harding & Ephraim Leibtag & Michael F. Lovenheim, 2012. "The Heterogeneous Geographic and Socioeconomic Incidence of Cigarette Taxes: Evidence from Nielsen Homescan Data," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 169-198, November.
    5. Friedman, Abigail S., 2020. "Smoking to cope: Addictive behavior as a response to mental distress," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    6. Carpenter, Christopher S., 2007. "Revisiting the income penalty for behaviorally gay men: Evidence from NHANES III," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 25-34, January.
    7. Matthew C. Farrelly & Jeremy W. Bray & Terry Pechacek & Trevor Woollery, 2001. "Response by Adults to Increases in Cigarette Prices by Sociodemographic Characteristics," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 68(1), pages 156-165, July.
    8. Sansone, Dario, 2019. "LGBT students: New evidence on demographics and educational outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    9. Sansone, Dario, 2019. "Pink work: Same-sex marriage, employment and discrimination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    10. Chaloupka, Frank J. & Wechsler, Henry, 1997. "Price, tobacco control policies and smoking among young adults," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 359-373, June.
    11. Weichselbaumer, Doris, 2003. "Sexual orientation discrimination in hiring," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(6), pages 629-642, December.
    12. Colman, Greg & Grossman, Michael & Joyce, Ted, 2003. "The effect of cigarette excise taxes on smoking before, during and after pregnancy," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 1053-1072, November.
    13. Benjamin Hansen & Joseph J. Sabia & Daniel I. Rees, 2017. "Have Cigarette Taxes Lost Their Bite? New Estimates of the Relationship between Cigarette Taxes and Youth Smoking," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 3(1), pages 60-75, Winter.
    14. Ringel, J.S. & Evans, W.N., 2001. "Cigarrette taxes and smoking during pregnancy," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 91(11), pages 1851-1856.
    15. Johanna Catherine MacLean & Asia Sikora Kessler & Donald S. Kenkel, 2016. "Cigarette Taxes and Older Adult Smoking: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(4), pages 424-438, April.
    16. Christopher S. Carpenter & Samuel T. Eppink, 2017. "Does It Get Better? Recent Estimates of Sexual Orientation and Earnings in the United States," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(2), pages 426-441, October.
    17. Michael F. Pesko & Charles J. Courtemanche & Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2019. "The Effects of Traditional Cigarette and E-Cigarette Taxes on Adult Tobacco Product Use," NBER Working Papers 26017, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    19. Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Carpenter, Christopher S. & Frank, Jeff & Huffman, Matt L., 2019. "Gay glass ceilings: Sexual orientation and workplace authority in the UK," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 167-180.
    20. Jonathan Gruber & Botond Köszegi, 2001. "Is Addiction "Rational"? Theory and Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(4), pages 1261-1303.
    21. Ariella Kahn-Lang & Kevin Lang, 2020. "The Promise and Pitfalls of Differences-in-Differences: Reflections on 16 and Pregnant and Other Applications," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 613-620, July.
    22. Marianne P. Bitler & Jonah B. Gelbach & Hilary W. Hoynes, 2003. "Some Evidence on Race, Welfare Reform, and Household Income," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 293-298, May.
    23. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2014. "Mastering ’Metrics: The Path from Cause to Effect," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10363.
    24. Kosali Simon & Aparna Soni & John Cawley, 2017. "The Impact of Health Insurance on Preventive Care and Health Behaviors: Evidence from the First Two Years of the ACA Medicaid Expansions," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(2), pages 390-417, March.
    25. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    26. Remler, D.K., 2004. "Poor Smokers, Poor Quitters, and Cigarette Tax Regressivity," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(2), pages 225-229.
    27. Buchmueller, T. & Carpenter, C.S., 2010. "Disparities in health insurance coverage, access, and outcomes for individuals in same-sex versus different-sex relationships, 2000-2007," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(3), pages 489-495.
    28. Jacob Goldin & Tatiana Homonoff, 2013. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: Cigarette Tax Salience and Regressivity," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 302-336, February.
    29. Erik Plug & Peter Berkhout, 2004. "Effects of sexual preferences on earnings in the Netherlands," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 17(1), pages 117-131, February.
    30. Christopher Carpenter, 2004. "New Evidence on Gay and Lesbian Household Incomes," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 22(1), pages 78-94, January.
    31. Chad Cotti & Erik Nesson & Nathan Tefft, 2016. "The Effects of Tobacco Control Policies on Tobacco Products, Tar, and Nicotine Purchases among Adults: Evidence from Household Panel Data," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 103-123, November.
    32. Buchmueller, T.C. & Levinson, Z.M. & Levy, H.G. & Wolfe, B.L., 2016. "Effect of the affordable care act on racial and ethnic disparities in health insurance coverage," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(8), pages 1416-1421.
    33. Geijtenbeek, Lydia & Plug, Erik, 2018. "Is there a penalty for registered women? Is there a premium for registered men? Evidence from a sample of transsexual workers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 334-347.
    34. Drydakis, Nick, 2009. "Sexual orientation discrimination in the labour market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 364-372, August.
    35. Philip DeCicca & Donald Kenkel & Alan Mathios, 2002. "Putting Out the Fires: Will Higher Taxes Reduce the Onset of Youth Smoking?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(1), pages 144-169, February.
    36. Dan A. Black & Seth G. Sanders & Lowell J. Taylor, 2007. "The Economics of Lesbian and Gay Families," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 53-70, Spring.
    37. Clarke, Geoffrey & Sevak, Purvi, 2013. "The disappearing gay income penalty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(3), pages 542-545.
    38. Christopher Carpenter & Samuel T. Eppink & Gilbert Gonzales Jr. & Tara McKay, 2018. "Effects of Access to Legal Same-Sex Marriage on Marriage and Health: Evidence from BRFSS," NBER Working Papers 24651, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    39. Marieka Klawitter, 1998. "Why Aren't More Economists Doing Research on Sexual Orientation?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 55-59.
    40. Craig A. Gallet & John A. List, 2003. "Cigarette demand: a meta‐analysis of elasticities," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(10), pages 821-835, October.
    41. DeCicca, Philip & McLeod, Logan, 2008. "Cigarette taxes and older adult smoking: Evidence from recent large tax increases," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 918-929, July.
    42. Gonzales, G. & Blewett, L.A., 2014. "National and state-specific health insurance disparities for adults in same-sex relationships," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(2), pages 95-104.
    43. Deputy, N.P. & Boehmer, U., 2014. "Weight status and sexual orientation: Differences by age and within racial and ethnic subgroups," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(1), pages 103-109.
    44. Benjamin Hansen & Joseph J. Sabia & Daniel I. Rees, 2017. "Have Cigarette Taxes Lost Their Bite? New Estimates of the Relationship between Cigarette Taxes and Youth Smoking," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 60-75, Winter.
    45. David Simon, 2016. "Does Early Life Exposure to Cigarette Smoke Permanently Harm Childhood Welfare? Evidence from Cigarette Tax Hikes," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 128-159, October.
    46. Erik Nesson, 2017. "Heterogeneity in Smokers' Responses to Tobacco Control Policies," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 206-225, February.
    47. Christopher S. Carpenter & Samuel T. Eppink & Gilbert Gonzales & Tara McKay, 2021. "Effects of Access to Legal Same‐Sex Marriage on Marriage and Health," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(2), pages 376-411, March.
    48. Coulter, R.W.S. & Kenst, K.S. & Bowen, D.J. & Scout, 2014. "Research funded by the National Institutes of Health on the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(2), pages 105-112.
    49. Carpenter, Christopher S., 2009. "Sexual orientation and outcomes in college," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 693-703, December.
    50. Matthew C. Farrelly & Jeremy W. Bray & Terry Pechacek & Trevor Woollery, 2001. "Response by Adults to Increases in Cigarette Prices by Sociodemographic Characteristics," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 68(1), pages 156-165, July.
    51. Franks, P. & Jerant, A.F. & Leigh, J.P. & Lee, D. & Chiem, A. & Lewis, I. & Lee, S., 2007. "Cigarette prices, smoking, and the poor: Implications of recent trends," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(10), pages 1873-1877.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Francesco Berlingieri & Matija Kovacic, 2025. "Health and relationship quality of sexual minorities in Europe," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-39, March.
    2. Riccardo Ciacci & Dario Sansone, 2023. "The impact of sodomy law repeals on crime," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 2519-2548, October.
    3. Carpenter, Christopher S. & Gonzales, Gilbert & McKay, Tara & Sansone, Dario, 2020. "Effects of the Affordable Care Act Dependent Coverage Mandate on Health Insurance Coverage for Individuals in Same-Sex Couples," IZA Discussion Papers 13119, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Shamima Akter & Md. Mizanur Rahman & Thomas Rouyard & Sarmin Aktar & Raïssa Shiyghan Nsashiyi & Ryota Nakamura, 2024. "A systematic review and network meta-analysis of population-level interventions to tackle smoking behaviour," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 8(12), pages 2367-2391, December.
    5. Massimo Anelli & Osea Giuntella & Luca Stella, 2024. "Robots, Marriageable Men, Family, and Fertility," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 59(2), pages 443-469.
    6. Cameron Deal & Shea Greenberg & Gilbert Gonzales, 2024. "Sexual identity, poverty, and utilization of government services," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(2), pages 1-31, June.
    7. Laura Nettuno & Samuel Mann & Gilbert Gonzales, 2024. "Sexual orientation based health disparities in Chile," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(1), pages 1-9, January.
    8. Francesco Berlingieri & Matija Kovacic, 2023. "Health and relationship quality of the LGBTQIA+ population in Europe," Working Papers 2023: 29, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    9. Flynn, James, 2025. "Tobacco 21 Laws, Prenatal Smoking, and Birth Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 17705, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sansone, Dario, 2019. "Pink work: Same-sex marriage, employment and discrimination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    2. Michael F. Pesko & Charles J. Courtemanche & Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2019. "The Effects of Traditional Cigarette and E-Cigarette Taxes on Adult Tobacco Product Use," NBER Working Papers 26017, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Friedson, Andrew I. & Rees, Daniel I., 2020. "Cigarette Taxes and Smoking in the Long Run," IZA Discussion Papers 13252, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Michael F. Pesko & Charles J. Courtemanche & Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2020. "The effects of traditional cigarette and e-cigarette tax rates on adult tobacco product use," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 229-258, June.
    5. Park, Mingyeong & Son, Hyelim, 2025. "Intensity Matters: Heterogeneous impact of cigarette tax reform on drinking behaviors by smoking intensity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 375(C).
    6. Andrew Friedson & Moyan Li & Katherine Meckel & Daniel I. Rees & Daniel W. Sacks, 2024. "Exposure to cigarette taxes as a teenager and the persistence of smoking into adulthood," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(9), pages 1962-1988, September.
    7. Erik Nesson, 2017. "The Impact of Tobacco Control Policies on Adolescent Smoking: Comparing Self-Reports and Biomarkers," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(4), pages 507-527, Fall.
    8. Leah K. Lakdawala & David Simon, 2017. "The Intergenerational Consequences of Tobacco Policy: A Review of Policy's Influence on Maternal Smoking and Child Health," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(1), pages 229-274, July.
    9. Lauren Hoehn-Velasco & Michael F. Pesko & Serena Phillips, 2023. "The Long-Term Impact of in Utero Cigarette Taxes on Adult Prenatal Smoking," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(4), pages 605-648.
    10. Sansone, Dario, 2019. "LGBT students: New evidence on demographics and educational outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    11. Michael E. Martell & Peyton Nash, 2020. "For Love and Money? Earnings and Marriage Among Same-Sex Couples," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 260-294, September.
    12. Leah K. Lakdawala & David Simon, 2016. "The Intergenerational Consequences of Tobacco Policy," Working papers 2016-27, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    13. D. Mark Anderson & Kyutaro Matsuzawa & Joseph J. Sabia, 2020. "Cigarette Taxes and Teen Marijuana Use," NBER Working Papers 26780, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Vinish Shrestha, 2025. "Revisiting the effects of cigarette taxation on smoking outcomes," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 68(3), pages 1429-1475, March.
    15. Shamima Akter & Md. Mizanur Rahman & Thomas Rouyard & Sarmin Aktar & Raïssa Shiyghan Nsashiyi & Ryota Nakamura, 2024. "A systematic review and network meta-analysis of population-level interventions to tackle smoking behaviour," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 8(12), pages 2367-2391, December.
    16. Vinish Shrestha, 2022. "Revisiting the Effects of Cigarette Taxes on Smoking Outcomes," Working Papers 2022-02, Towson University, Department of Economics, revised Jun 2024.
    17. Anderson, D. Mark & Matsuzawa, Kyutaro & Sabia, Joseph J., 2020. "Cigarette Taxes and Teen Marijuana Use," IZA Discussion Papers 12980, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Carpenter, Christopher S. & Gonzales, Gilbert & McKay, Tara & Sansone, Dario, 2020. "Effects of the Affordable Care Act Dependent Coverage Mandate on Health Insurance Coverage for Individuals in Same-Sex Couples," IZA Discussion Papers 13119, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Rahi Abouk & Scott Adams & Bo Feng & Johanna Catherine Maclean & Michael F. Pesko, 2023. "The effect of e‐cigarette taxes on pre‐pregnancy and prenatal smoking," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(4), pages 908-940, September.
    20. James M. Bishop, 2018. "Does Cigarette Smuggling Prop Up Smoking Rates?," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 4(1), pages 80-104, Winter.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26692. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.