Interstate Cigarette Bootlegging: Extent, Revenue Losses, and Effects of Government Intervention / Marie C. Thursby, Jerry G. Thursby.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thursby, Marie C.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Thursby, Jerry G.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w4763.

NBER working paper series no. w4763

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Interstate Cigarette Bootlegging

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1994.

Summary:

In this paper, we develop and estimate a model of commercial smuggling in which some, but not all, firms smuggle a portion of the cigarettes they sell. The model is used to examine the effects on interstate cigarette smuggling of the Contraband Cigarette Act and a change in the federal excise tax. We find that both policies have unintentional effects. While the Contraband Cigarette Act was imposed to reduce interstate smuggling, we find it had the opposite effect. In contrast, an increase in the federal tax is not intended to affect smuggling, but we find it increases the portion of cigarette sales that is commercially smuggled.

Notes:

Print version record

June 1994.