Consumer Information about the Risks of Vaping E-cigarettes: Experimental Evidence

A line of empirical studies in economics use information shocks to explore the role of health information in consumer demand for tobacco products and other health-related goods. We study an information shock to tobacco product demand created by an outbreak of lung injuries in the late summer and fall of 2019, which the CDC termed “E-cigarette, or Vaping, Associated Lung Injuries” (EVALI). The outbreak was covered in the media and by public health organizations in the U.S., the U.K., and globally. In other research, we use observational data from multiple sources to explore the impact of the information of the information shock on risk perceptions and on vaping and tobacco product use. We now propose a randomized controlled trial of three information interventions about vaping: a 2019 Twitter message about EVALI from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control; a 2019 Twitter message about EVALI from the U.K. Health Security Agency; and a 2019 Twitter message about the teen vaping epidemic from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. A fourth control group will receive no message. The controlled trial of U.S. and U.K. subjects will be conducted through the PollFish online survey firm. The primary outcomes will be measures of subjects’ perceptions of the relative and absolute risks of vaping e-cigarettes. The secondary outcomes will be measures of subjects’ intentions about future tobacco product use.