Differential Responsiveness to Cigarette Price by Education and Income among Adult Urban Chinese Smokers

Background China is the world's largest producer and consumer of tobacco. Tobacco imposes tremendous burden on Chinese society. There has been very limited evidence on the impact of cigarette price on cigarette consumption in China, and little is known about whether its impact differs by socioeconomic status.

Methods We analyze three waves (2006, 2007/08, and 2009) of data from the China ITC project, a longitudinal cohort survey of adult smokers conducted in seven cities in China. Approximately 1,800 adult smokers are recruited by probability sampling methods in each city. The price elasticity of conditional demand for cigarette was estimated using the general estimating equations (GEE) method. Interaction terms and separate specifications are used to quantify the differential impact of cigarette price on cigarette consumption among subpopulations defined by SES status.

Results The conditional price elasticity of demand for cigarettes among urban Chinese adult smokers was estimated to be -.13, implying a 10% increase in cigarette price would reduce the consumption of cigarettes among current smokers by 1.3%. The magnitude (in absolute value) of this estimate is smaller than those found in developed countries, which were close to -.2 to -.4. While price elasticity point estimate is larger among low income and less educated group, the differences between income and education groups are not statistically significant.

Conclusions This study provides additional evidence of the effectiveness of cigarette tax/price in reducing tobacco use in China. Further studies are needed to examine their impact on youth, rural residents and smoking prevalence.