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Do cigarette producers price-discriminate by state? An empirical analysis of local cigarette pricing and taxation

1996; Elsevier BV; Volume: 15; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0167-6296(96)00498-5

1879-1646

Theodore E. Keeler, Teh‐wei Hu, Paul G. Barnett, Willard G. Manning, Hai-Yen Sung,

Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics

This study analyzes the interactive effects of oligopoly pricing, state taxation, and anti-smoking regulations on retail cigarette prices by state, using panel data for the 50 US states between 1960 and 1990. The results indicate that cigarette producers do price-discriminate by state, though the effect is not large relative to the final retail price. There are two further results: (1) state taxes are more than passed on — a 1-cent state tax increase results in a price increase of 1.11 cents, and (2) sellers offset state and local anti-smoking laws with lower prices, thereby blunting effects of the regulations.