@article{7eccc03c8d164ab5a9cb4acc10a9a93a,
title = "PRICE ISN{\textquoteright}T EVERYTHING: BEHAVIORAL RESPONSE AROUND CHANGES IN SIN TAXES",
abstract = "In traditional economic models, taxes change behavior by changing prices. In empirical analyses, factors other than price are thought to be relevant, but any nonprice factors are usually assumed to be held constant as taxes vary. We contend that violations of this assump-tion are expected when laws are passed changing sin taxes. In support of this claim, we document that state-level cigarette tax increases are concomitant with increases in antismoking appropriations, media coverage on smoking, lobbying efforts, and place-based smoking re-strictions. The influence of these nonprice factors is easily confused with price effects, and we find evidence suggesting that controlling for them substantially reduces the estimated demand responsivity to the tax itself.",
keywords = "expressive effects, legal changes, prices, sin taxes",
author = "Alex Rees-Jones and Kyle Rozema",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Douglas Baird, Adam Chilton, Erin Delaney, Gerrit De Geest, Dham-mika Dharmapala, Michael Frakes, Ezra Friedman, Daniel Hemel, Jim Hines, William Hubbard, Don Kenkel, Genevieve Lakier, Sarah Lawsky, Ben Lockwood, Anup Malani, Jonathan Masur, Richard McAdams, Adam Rosenzweig, Sarath Sanga, Max Schanzenbach, Joel Slemrod, Kate Smith, Dmitry Taubinsky, and sem-inar audiences at the American Economic Association Annual Meeting, the American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting, the Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, the Junior Tax Scholars Workshop, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley School of Law, University of California Hastings College of Law, University of Chicago Law School, University of Southern California School of Law Center for Law and Social Science, Washington University School of Law, and Wharton for helpful comments. We thank Andrew Joung for excellent research assistance and the Wharton Dean{\textquoteright}s Research Fund for financial support. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 National Tax Association. All rights reserved. Published by The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the National Tax Association.",
year = "2023",
month = mar,
doi = "10.1086/723093",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "76",
pages = "5--35",
journal = "National Tax Journal",
issn = "0028-0283",
publisher = "National Tax Association",
number = "1",
}