Do smokers value their health and longevity less?
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Abstract
- One reason why individuals consume harmful addictive goods is that the “full”
price of such goods is low. Using data on adults specifically collected for this
study, we examine the internal cost of one such good by estimating the value
that smokers and nonsmokers place on loss of health and longevity from a
major lung disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Differences
in the nonpecuniary internal cost of getting COPD between current smokers
and people who have never smoked range from $80,000 to $260,000, implying
that one reason people continue to smoke is that they face a lower full price
of smoking. Our results suggest that although taxation and regulation of cigarettes
may be justified for externality reasons, the principle of consumer sovereignty
implies that the case is much weaker for interventions based on helping
smokers internalize costs they impose on themselves.
| Title | Do smokers value their health and longevity less? |
|---|---|
| Creator | Khwaja, A. |
| Wang, Yang | |
| Sloan, F. | |
| Publisher | Journal of Law and Economics |
| Academic Department | Economics |
| Division | Social Sciences |
| Organization | Lafayette College |
| Date Issued | 2009 |
| Date Available | 2010-03-11T14:58:15Z |
| Type | Article |
| Language | English |
| Bibliographic Citation | Khwaja, A., F. Sloan, and Y. Wang. (2009.) "Do smokers value their health and longevity less?" Journal of Law and Economics 52 (1): 171-96. |
| Standard Identifier | DOI 10.1086/589655 |
| Handle 10385/636 | |
| Permalink | http://hdl.handle.net/10385/636 |
| Rights Statement |
In Copyright
|
| Rights Holders | The University of Chicago |
Contains
| File | Wang-JournalofLawandEconomics-vol52-no1-2009.pdf | Uploaded 2019-10-20 | Public | Download |
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