title: Price and consumption of tobacco in Italy over the last three decades.
abstract: Changes in cigarette price have had an appreciable impact on smoking consumption in several countries. We analysed the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes in Italy over the period 1970-2001. A 1% increase in price of cigarettes led to a 0.30% decline in smoking prevalence and to a 0.43% decline in cigarette consumption. The present analyses confirm the existence of an inverse association between price and prevalence/consumption of cigarettes in Italy, and indicate that economic aspects may have important public health implications in tobacco control.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Via Eritrea, 62, 20157 Milan, Italy. gallus@marionegri.it
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gallus
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Townsend
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schiaffino
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: La Vecchia
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012907:Smoking / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000639:trends*; D013997:Time Factors