We study the impact of new information on people’s perceptions of the risks of e-cigarettes. In September 2019 the U.S. experienced an outbreak of e-cigarette, or vaping, associated lung injuries (EVALI). The EVALI outbreak created an information shock, which was followed by additional new information in a later CDC recommendation. We use data on consumer risk perceptions from two sets of surveys conducted before (HINTS survey data) and during the EVALI outbreak (Google Survey data). The empirical model examines changes in risk perceptions during the early crisis period when the CDC was warning consumers that they should avoid all vaping products and during a later period when the message was refined and focused on a narrower set of illegal vaping products that contain THC (the main psychoactive compound in marijuana). Econometric results suggest that the immediate impact of the first information shock was to significantly increase the fraction of respondents who perceived e-cigarettes as more harmful than smoking. As the outbreak subsided and the CDC recommendation changed to emphasize the role of THC e-cigarette products, e-cigarette risk perceptions were only partially revised downwards. Individuals who had higher risk perceptions showed a weaker response to the first information shock but were more likely to later revise their risk perceptions downwards. We conclude the paper by discussing the public policy issues that stem from having risk perceptions of e-cigarettes relative to combustible cigarettes remain at these elevated levels where a substantial portion of consumers believe that e-cigarettes are more harmful than cigarettes.

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令您叹为观止的新闻：与电子烟相关的肺损伤爆发期间的风险认知

我们研究新信息对人们对电子烟风险认知的影响。2019 年 9 月，美国爆发了电子烟或电子烟相关肺损伤 (EVALI)。EVALI 爆发造成了信息冲击，随后在后来的 CDC 建议中提供了额外的新信息。我们使用来自 EVALI 爆发之前（HINTS 调查数据）和 EVALI 爆发期间（谷歌调查数据）进行的两组调查的消费者风险认知数据。实证模型检查了危机早期风险认知的变化，当时 CDC 警告消费者他们应该避免使用所有电子烟产品，而在随后的时期，该信息被完善并专注于更窄的包含 THC 的非法电子烟产品。大麻中的主要精神活性化合物）。计量经济学结果表明，第一次信息冲击的直接影响是显着增加了认为电子烟比吸烟更有害的受访者比例。随着疫情消退和 CDC 建议改为强调 THC 电子烟产品的作用，电子烟风险认知仅部分向下修正。具有较高风险认知的个体对第一次信息冲击的反应较弱，但后来更有可能向下修正他们的风险认知。我们通过讨论由于对电子烟相对于可燃香烟的风险认知保持在这些较高水平而导致的公共政策问题来结束本文，其中很大一部分消费者认为电子烟比香烟更有害。