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Why Do Dancers Smoke? Time Preference, Occupational Choice, and Wage Growth

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Lalith Munasinghe
Nachum Sicherman

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Abstract

Time preference is a key determinant of occupational choice and investments in human capital. Since careers are characterized by different wage growth prospects, individual discount rates play an important role in the relative valuation of jobs or occupations. We predict that individuals with lower discount rates are more likely to select into jobs or occupations with steeper wage profiles. To test this hypothesis we use smoking as an instrument for time preference. Panel data from the NLSY (1979-94) are ideal for our purposes since it contains information on smoking behavior in addition to detailed work histories and other socio-economic variables. We find that smokers have substantially flatter wage profiles, and a higher marginal rate of substitution of current wages for future wages. Incidentally, a survey of several hundred undergraduates at Barnard and Columbia College show that dance majors have the highest smoking rate.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 7542.

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Date of creation: Feb 2000
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7542

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Loewenstein, George & Thaler, Richard H, 1989. "Intertemporal Choice," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 181-93, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Victor R. Fuchs, 1982. "Time Preference and Health: An Exploratory Study," NBER Working Papers 0539, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Kenkel, D.S., 1988. "Health Behavior, Health Knowledge, And Schooling," Papers 10-88-3, Pennsylvania State - Department of Economics.
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  4. William N. Evans & Edward Montgomery, 1994. "Education and Health: Where There's Smoke There's an Instrument," NBER Working Papers 4949, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Michael Grossman, 1973. "The Correlation Between Health and Schooling," NBER Working Papers 0022, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Victor R. Fuchs, 1982. "Time Preference and Health: An Exploratory Study," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Aspects of Health, pages 93-120 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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  1. Andrew Postlewaite & Dan Silverman, 2004. "Social Isolation and Inequality," PIER Working Paper Archive 04-017, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Borghans,Lex & Golsteyn,Bart H.H., 2005. "Time Discounting and the Body Mass Index," Research Memoranda 006, Maastricht : ROA, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Nelen Annemarie & Grip Andries de, 2008. "Why do Part-Time Workers invest less in Human Capital than Full-Timers?," Research Memoranda 004, Maastricht : ROA, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Stefano DellaVigna & M. Daniele Paserman, 2004. "Job Search and Impatience," NBER Working Papers 10837, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Donald P. Morgan, 2007. "Defining and detecting predatory lending," Staff Reports 273, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Downloadable!]
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