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Clean cooking transitions can have profound public health, environmental and societal gains for 2.6 billion people in the Global South. We use data from the largest household energy survey (n= 7,389) in Ghana to provide novel insights. One, regression analysis with thirteen commonly cited socio-economic and demographic predictors indicates that these factors have remarkably different levels of influence at different stages of the transition process. We propose a stage-based intervention strategy and customer targeting approach that could be a paradigm shift in how clean cooking interventions are rolled out. Two, we identify factors that are associated with exclusive use of LPG using a statistically powered sample of exclusive LPG users (n= 693). We find that everything else being equal, increases in wealth, and residing in an urban location are not associated with a transition from primary to exclusive LPG use.

To address the threat e-cigarettes poses to public health, especially among youths, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a policy in 2020 that regulates the sale and distribution of e-cigarettes with fruit and mint flavors. Such flavors are alleged to lure youth into smoking and can increase the likelihood for addiction to other drugs. However, this regulation does not address packaging that can have a similar effect on the demand for e-cigarettes products. Indeed, certain e-liquids use youth-oriented (kiddish, cartoonish, and colorful) packaging which are attractive to youth but may also induce a no-harm perception among e-liquids users. In this paper, we examine the impact of the youth-oriented packaging on e-liquid sales. Using data scraped from Amazon, the results of our analysis reveal that youth-oriented packaging increases the sale of e-liquids. In addition, the demand for e-liquids is inelastic and the percentage of propylene glycol (PG), the rating, and the sentiment in the online reviews left by previous buyers also influence the sale of e-liquids. This research suggests that besides fruit and mint flavors, the policy goal of reducing use among youth should also include packaging. The analysis finds that taxation policies to raise prices of e-liquids will not affect appreciably the demand for e-liquids. Policies for e-liquids control should focus on designing packaging that reduces the no- or low-risk perception.

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