# The Impacts of Vaping Regulations on Perceptions, Access, Prices, and Tobacco Use

> **NIH NIH R01** · GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $351,527

## Abstract

There is a gap in understanding how to optimally regulate electronic cigarettes (`e-cigarettes') given unique
risks of e-cigarette use (`vaping') and possible spillover effects of vaping regulations on other health behaviors.
E-cigarettes are currently used by 16% of high school students and 5% of middle schoolers. Among adults,
13% report having used e-cigarettes at some point. The long-term goal of our proposed research is to assist in
optimally regulating e-cigarettes by estimating the impact of e-cigarette regulations on a range of important
outcomes. Specifically, the objective of our application is to use rigorous econometric methods (e.g.
differences-in-differences models, event studies, changes-in-changes methods, unconditional quantile
regressions, factor models, and synthetic control models) and high quality, reproducible data (both proprietary
and survey) to causally estimate the effect of e-cigarette regulations on: (i) e-cigarette prices, access, and
perceptions; (ii) use and sales of e-cigarettes, traditional cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco products, and
dual- and multi-use of these products.; and (iii) sales of nicotine replacement therapy. We will estimate the
effect of three regulations currently being implemented by both state and county governments: minimum legal
sales ages, taxes, and indoor use bans. Our data sources include Nielsen retail data, Behavioral Risk Factor
Surveillance System (BRFSS), Monitoring the Future (MTF), National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), and
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). We will perform analyses separately for youth and adults,
using variation in e-cigarette regulations through year 2019. In our regression models, we will control for a
variety of factors that could otherwise bias our estimates, such as demographic information and regulations
targeting tobacco use and use of related substances. A rationale for our proposed research is that smoking is
the largest cause of preventable death in the United States, raising the importance of understanding the impact
of vaping regulations on tobacco use and nicotine replacement therapy use. Smoking leads to 480,000 deaths
and $170 billion in medical expenditures each year. Our project is significant by providing important inputs of
costs and benefits of e-cigarettes for policymakers deciding how to regulate optimally e-cigarettes. Our project
is also innovative for a variety of reasons, including introducing innovative and powerful research methods
(changes-in-changes methods, unconditional quantile regressions, factor models, and synthetic control
models) to the e-cigarette literature; carefully examining mechanisms through which e-cigarette regulations
may affect the use of e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes, such as through retail prices and by influencing
consumers' perceptions of the absolute and relative risks of these two cigarette types; and developing methods
to standardize e-cigarette taxes to estimate a `pass-throug...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10124360
- **Project number:** 5R01DA045016-04
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael Pesko
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $351,527
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-06-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10124360

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10124360, The Impacts of Vaping Regulations on Perceptions, Access, Prices, and Tobacco Use (5R01DA045016-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10124360. Licensed CC0.

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