We examine the potential for reducing cigarette, smoking through increases in cigarette excise taxes by estimating the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes. Using information on individual smoking behavior for a sample of adults in the 1976 Health Interview Survey, we estimate the adult price elasticity of demand for cigarettes to be -.45. Moreover, we find that price has its greatest effect on the smoking behavior of young males and that it operates primarily on the decision to begin smoking regularly rather than via adjustments in the quantity of cigarettes smoked by smokers. It follows that, if future reductions in cigarette smoking are desired, Federal excise tax policy can be a potent tool to accomplish this goal, but only in the long run. An exèise tax increase, if'maintatned tn rea' terms, woUld discourage smoking participation by successive cohorts of young adults and those reduced smoking levels would be reflected in aggregate smoking as these cohorts mature. In the short run however, the impact of an excise tax increase on aggregate cigarette consumption would be relatively small.

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We conclude that multidisciplinary collaborative quality improvement has the potential to improve the outcomes of neonatal intensive care.

Medical and technological advances in the care of infants with low birth weight (less than 2,500 grams, or 5 pounds, 8 ounces) and very low birth weight (less than 1,500 grams, or 3 pounds, 5 ounces) have substantially increased the survival rate for these infants and have led to concerns about the demands their care places upon their families and society. The dollar cost of the resources used disproportionately to care for low birth weight children is one measure of the burden of low birth weight. Using analyses of national survey data for 1988 for children ages 0 to 15, this article presents estimates of the direct incremental costs of low birth weight--costs of the resources used to care for low birth weight infants above and beyond those used for infants of normal birth weight. In 1988, health care, education, and child care for the 3.5 to 4 million children ages 0 to 15 born low birth weight between $5.5 and $6 billion more than they would have if those children had been born normal birth weight. Low birth weight accounts for 10% of all health care costs for children, and the incremental direct costs of low birth cost weight are of similar magnitude to those of unintentional injuries among children and in 1988 were substantially greater than the direct costs of AIDS among Americans of all ages in that year.