How Does the Impact of Tobacco Control Policies Change Over Time?: Evidence from South Korea

In this paper, we examine the dynamic effect of tobacco control policies on tobacco consumption using the recent implementation of such policies in Korea. The results show that such policies discretely reduce the incidence and amount of tobacco consumptions. We document that after the initial drop, spending on tobacco products gradually recovered towards the pre-policy level. We also find that there is considerable heterogeneity in the persistence of the impact of tobacco control policies. For higher income households, the impact dissipated approximately six months after the implementation of the policy whereas for low-income households, it persisted through the first year.