Grant: Catalyst Grant: Health Effects of Vaping

As vaping rates increase rapidly, especially among youths, there is a growing concern about adverse health outcomes of vaping. Several studies found that that vaping is correlated with a number of adverse mental and respiratory health outcomes. However, these studies were unable to separate the effects of vaping from that of confounding factors such as individuals' risk preferences. The objective of this project is to provide new, rigorous evidence on health effects of vaping and a major policy designed to protect children from vaping, namely, the Minimum Legal Age (MLA) for vaping. We will employ state-of-the-art econometric techniques that leverage the staggered implementation dates of the MLA policy across Canadian provinces to identify the effects of vaping and the MLA policy on: (i) youth mental health (anxiety, mood disorder, depression and life satisfaction); and (ii) youth respiratory outcomes (asthma and asthma attacks). Data for this study are from the nationally-representative Canadian Community Health Surveys (CCHS) 2015-2019. This research will provide timely and much-needed evidence to inform policymakers and the public on important effects of vaping and its regulations.