Behavioral economic substitutability of e-cigarettes, tobacco cigarettes, and nicotine gum

The public health impact of e-cigarettes may depend on their substitutability for tobacco cigarettes. Dual users of e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes completed purchasing tasks in which they specified daily use levels under hypothetical conditions that varied the availability and price of e-cigare...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford) 2017-07, Vol.31 (7), p.851-860
Main Authors: Johnson, Matthew W, Johnson, Patrick S, Rass, Olga, Pacek, Lauren R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Cigarettes
Consumer behavior
Drug addiction
Economics, Behavioral
Electronic cigarettes
Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems - economics
Female
Humans
Male
Market value
Nicotine
Nicotine Chewing Gum - economics
Public health
Reinforcement
Smoking
Smoking cessation
Tobacco
Tobacco Products - economics
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The public health impact of e-cigarettes may depend on their substitutability for tobacco cigarettes. Dual users of e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes completed purchasing tasks in which they specified daily use levels under hypothetical conditions that varied the availability and price of e-cigarettes, tobacco cigarettes, and nicotine gum (for those with nicotine gum experience). When either e-cigarettes or tobacco cigarettes were the only available commodity, as price per puff increased, purchasing decreased, revealing similar reinforcement profiles. When available concurrently, as the price of tobacco puffs increased, purchasing of tobacco puffs decreased while purchasing of fixed-price e-cigarette puffs increased. Among those with nicotine gum experience, when the price of tobacco puffs was closest to the actual market value of tobacco puffs, e-cigarette availability decreased median tobacco puff purchases by 44% compared to when tobacco was available alone. In contrast, nicotine gum availability caused no decrease in tobacco puff purchases. E-cigarettes may serve as a behavioral economic substitute for tobacco cigarettes, and may be a superior substitute compared to nicotine gum in their ability to decrease tobacco use. Although important questions remain regarding the health impacts of e-cigarettes, these data are consistent with the possibility that e-cigarettes may serve as smoking cessation/reduction aids.
ISSN:0269-8811
1461-7285
DOI:10.1177/0269881117711921