Tobacco control policies and cigarette demand among adolescents attending school in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region

Résumé

This paper deals with the effects of the existence of tobacco control measures on cigarette demand (smoking participation and smoking intensity). We specify a logit model and generalized linear model with the gamma distribution and pooled cross-sectional data from the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). The empirical results show that 1% increase in the price of a pack of cigarettes results in 0.114% decrease in smoking participation and a 0.448% decrease in smoking intensity among adolescents aged 13 to 15 years. Anti-smoking media messages have a negative and significant effect on smoking intensity among adolescents aged 12 and under. Pro-smoking messages in magazines and newspapers encourage participation in smoking. Health policies should, in addition to heavy taxation, establish a monitoring strategy of cigarette sellers towards teenagers near schools and correct their behaviors. The total share of taxes has to increase permanently with the higher ad valorem taxes and the specific tax which encourages higher prices. Print media that expose adolescents to cigarette advertising messages should be heavily taxed.