Table 3.

Own price elasticity, consumption and affordability of tobacco products

Study number	Study ID a	First Author a Year	Country	Product	Authors’ conclusions	Measure of outcome	Relationship between price and consumption/affordability	Quality
1	2	Nargis 2019	Bangladesh	Cigarettes and bidis	Few externalities undermined the effectiveness of tax and prices, thereby increasing cigarette consumption in Bangladesh	Consumption	Positive	High
2	3	Hussain 2017	Thailand	Cigarettes	Overall, no change in national affordability of cigarettes	Consumption and affordability	No	High
3*	4	Blecher 2004	Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia	Cigarettes	The average annual percentage change in RIP (%) of cigarettes from 1990–2001: i) Sri Lanka: Decrease, ii) Thailand: Increase, iii) Bangladesh: Decrease, iv) India: Decrease, v) Indonesia: Increase	Affordability	Unclear	High
4	5	Shang 2018	India	Cigarettes and bidis	The cigarette prices were significantly associated with lower hazards of smoking onset**. Higher bidi prices were significantly associated with a lower hazard of bidi smoking onset**.	Consumption	Inverse	High
5	7	Kostova 2015	India	Smokeless tobacco	Higher ST prices were found to reduce ST use at the intensive margin.	Consumption	Inverse	Moderate
6	8	White 2015	Thailand	Cigarettes	Although 50.1% of all smokers decreased consumption. The marginal effects of cigarette prices on consumption (price elasticity) were small and of the wrong sign for two of four models. It did not alter the intensity of continuing smokers.	Consumption	Contradictory statements within the study, hence unclear	High
7	11	John 2008	India	Cigarettes, bidis and leaf tobacco	The proportionate increases in price lead to slightly less than proportionate reductions in consumption in the case of bidis and leaf tobacco, while leading to much less proportionate reductions in consumption in the case of cigarettes.	Consumption	Inverse	High
8	14	Zheng 2018	Indonesia	Cigarettes	From 2002 to 2016, cigarette consumption steadily increased, in association with an increase in affordability.	Consumption as well as affordability	Positive	High
9	20	Jha P 2012	Thailand and India	Cigarettes	Although mentioned that large taxes are an effective instrument in reducing the number of smokers but no clear-cut interpretations could be drawn on the impact of price on consumption.	Consumption	Unclear	Moderate
10	22	Kengganpanich 2009	Thailand	Cigarettes	The cigarette consumption reduced after tax increase.	Consumption	Inverse	High
11	24	Joseph 2013	India	Cigarettes, bidis and gutka	Based on the price elasticity estimates calculated in the study, higher tobacco prices can be an effective deterrent in participation among youth.	Consumption	Inverse	High
12	26	Nargis 2014	Bangladesh	Cigarettes	Cigarette price leads to less than proportionate decrease in consumption.	Consumption	Inverse	High
13	28	Nargis 2018	Bangladesh	Cigarettes, bidis and smokeless tobacco	The affordability of bidis and cigarettes increased while SLT remained unchanged.	Affordability	Positive for bidis and cigarettes; no for SLT	High
14	29	John 2020	India	Cigarettes, bidis and SLT	The overall affordability of products has increased post GST. ***	Consumption and affordability	Unclear	High
15	36	Huq 2018	Bangladesh	Cigarettes	While the top two tiers did not see any major shift but the consumption increased in low and medium tier.	Consumption	Positive	High
16	37	Guindon 2019	India	Cigarettes and bidis	Bidis and cigarettes have become substantially affordable, despite the price increase.	Affordability	Positive	High
17	39	Fernando 2019	Sri Lanka	Any type	Increasing the price of tobacco products has no significant impact on smoking behaviors.	Consumption	Positive	Low
18	45	Shang 2017	India	Cigarettes, bidis and dual	Higher state cigarette VAT rates in India were significantly associated with lower smoking.	Consumption	Inverse	High
19	46	Nargis 2014	Bangladesh	SLT-zarda	The price of zarda appears to influence the prevalence of zarda use negatively as expected.	Consumption	Inverse	High
20	55	Arunatilake 2000	Sri Lanka	Overall tobacco	Based on the price elasticity estimates; price increases are effective in reducing tobacco consumption.	Consumption	Inverse	High
21	66	John 2010	India	Cigarettes, bidis and chewing	All products have become more affordable (based on RIP computed for all the three types).	Affordability	Positive	Moderate
22	67	Report 2014	Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand	Cigarettes	No definite answer for Myanmar. Increased prevalence for cigarette smoking in Indonesia. While for Thailand as taxes increased, the prevalence decreased.	Consumption	Unclear	Moderate
23	69	Adioetomo 2005	Indonesia	Cigarettes	Price increase will have effect on quantities of cigarettes consumed, based on the negative price elasticity estimates.	Consumption	Inverse	High
24	70	Yurekli 2003	Nepal	Cigarettes and bidis	Negative price elasticity estimates; Increase in excise taxes would reduce consumption.	Consumption	Inverse	High
25	71	Kyaing NN 2005	Myanmar	Cigarettes, cheroots, SLT	Based on the price elasticity estimates higher prices of tobacco products will lead to reduced consumption.	Consumption	Inverse	High
26	72	Kyaing 2003	Myanmar	All tobacco products	Cigarette affordability did not change much but cheroots have become much more affordable.	Affordability	No as well positive	Moderate
27	73	Djutaharta 2005	Indonesia	Cigarettes	Overall, the trend in cigarette consumption neither increased or decreased.	Consumption	No	High
28	74	Goodchild 2020	India	Cigarettes, bidis and chewing	No significant change in affordability of bidis and cigarettes. While affordability of SLT has reduced significantly.	Affordability	No as well positive	Moderate

^aThe reference for each Study ID is given in the Supplementary file Table S9.

^*These interpretations were given in graphs and not explicitly stated by the authors. Hence, no clear inferences could be drawn for findings specific to WHO-SEAR countries.

^**In study 5, onset refers to a created dummy variable and pertains to start of tobacco use in the given year (coded as 1, and 0 for non-smokers).

^***The author does say that this is due to no increase in taxation within GST regime, unlike high VAT tax.

Note: Although affordability is expressed as RIP (%) in most of studies, increase in RIP means tobacco products become expensive, however for easy interpretation of results ‘direct’ relationship between price and affordability of products means that products have become more affordable despite the price increase.