disclosure, nicotine

I estimated inter-brand cigarette demands with nicotine, tar contentand policy event information in Japan during 1950-84. The demand for allbrands increased but the demand for plain (non-filter) brands decreaseddue to the dissemination of“A Note about Health Damage from Smoking" in 1964. The demand for all brands increased but the demand forhigh-nicotine brands decreased due to the disclosure of nicotine and tarcontent in 1967 and the labeling warnings in 1972, however consumershad still preferred high-nicotine brands after 1972. Contrastively, thedemand for high-tar brands increased in 1967 but decreased in 1972, andconsumers had switched to prefer low-tar brands after 1972. Disclosure didnot reduce the intake of nicotine but reduced the intake of tar, accordinglydisclosure may benefit consumers by reducing the health risk as tar causescancers. In line with changes in inter-brand demands, the monopolisticfirm discontinued old products with poorer quality (plain, high-tar) butprovided new better ones (filter-tipped, low-tar).

disclosure, nicotine