Editor’s Note: These entries are part of an ongoing drug-related dissertation bibliography being compiled by Jonathon Erlen. They were formerly published in the Social History of Alcohol and Drugs journal but are now periodically featured on the Points blog. For more information, contact Dr. Erlen through the link above.
Informing E-cigarette Policy: Population Effects and Tobacco Industry Incentives
Author: Cahn, Zachary
Abstract: This dissertation consists of a set of papers intended to inform practitioners and scholars of nicotine policy in general and e-cigarettes specifically. The first chapter frames the subsequent chapters and introduces some key concepts that are necessary to understand this framing. The second chapter synthesizes the research on past obstacles to cigarette innovation in order to 1) determine why cigarette innovation did not yield substantially reduced hazard for decades, and 2) gain insight into how tobacco companies are likely to behave today and in the future. Special attention will be paid to the emergence of e-cigarettes and why the industry did not enter this market sooner. The third chapter focuses on the potential for e-cigarettes to “renormalize” cigarette smoking. Looking at one specific pathway—social renormalization—this chapter seeks to estimate whether peer vaping affects the perception of peer smoking among youths. The fourth chapter examines predictors of initiation of e-cigarette use among consistent smokers and analyzes the impact of e-cigarette use on cessation among smokers in a national U.S. consumer panel. The fifth chapter puts the findings from the previous chapters into context and develops core lessons for scholars that seek to study e-cigarettes and policymakers that seek to regulate them.
Publication year: 2016
ISBN: 9781369330571
Advisor: Saltman, Richard B.
Committee members: Berg, Carla Michael; Haardoerfer, Regine Michael; Hockenberry, Jason Michael
University/institution: Emory University
Department: Health Services and Research Health Policy