IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v62y2009i3p381-393.html

The Wage Effects of Personal Smoking History

Author

Listed:
  • Irina B. Grafova
  • Frank P. Stafford

Abstract

This study explores determinants of the wage penalty borne by smokers. The authors reconstruct individual smoking histories by pooling PSID (Panel Study of Income Dynamics) data for 1986–2001. They find no wage gap between former smokers and those who had never smoked, but statistically significant wage gaps between smokers who would continue smoking and three other groups: those who would later quit smoking, those who had quit smoking already, and those who never smoked. The wage penalty for smoking, observed in the 1986 cross-section, is largely driven by those who would continue smoking over the years 1986–2001. These results suggest that the smoker/nonsmoker wage differential observed at any given time may be driven by a non-causal explanation rather than by smoking per se . For example, persistent smokers may be characterized by myopia that leads to reduced investment in health capital and firm-specific or other human capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Irina B. Grafova & Frank P. Stafford, 2009. "The Wage Effects of Personal Smoking History," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 62(3), pages 381-393, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:62:y:2009:i:3:p:381-393
    DOI: 10.1177/001979390906200307
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001979390906200307
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/001979390906200307?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hamermesh, Daniel S & Biddle, Jeff E, 1994. "Beauty and the Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1174-1194, December.
    2. Victor R. Fuchs, 1982. "Introduction to "Economic Aspects of Health"," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Aspects of Health, pages 1-12, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Yew Liang Lee, 2003. "Wage Effects of Drinking in Australia," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 36(3), pages 265-282, September.
    4. Victor R. Fuchs, 1982. "Economic Aspects of Health," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fuch82-1, January.
    5. Michael, Robert T, 1973. "Education in Nonmarket Production," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(2), pages 306-327, Part I, M.
    6. Gary S. Becker & Casey B. Mulligan, 1997. "The Endogenous Determination of Time Preference," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 729-758.
    7. van Ours, Jan C., 2004. "A pint a day raises a man's pay; but smoking blows that gain away," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 863-886, September.
    8. Fuchs, Victor R. (ed.), 1982. "Economic Aspects of Health," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226267852, August.
    9. Aparna Mitra, 2001. "Effects of physical attributes on the wages of males and females," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(11), pages 731-735.
    10. Nestor E. Terleckyj, 1976. "Household Production and Consumption," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number terl76-1, January.
    11. Kajal Lahiri & Jae G. Song, 2000. "The effect of smoking on health using a sequential self‐selection model," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(6), pages 491-511, September.
    12. Nicola Persico & Andrew Postlewaite & Dan Silverman, 2004. "The Effect of Adolescent Experience on Labor Market Outcomes: The Case of Height," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(5), pages 1019-1053, October.
    13. Nicola Persico & Andrew Postlewaite & Dan Silverman, 2001. "The Effect of Adolescent Experience on Labor Market Outcomes: The Case of Height, Third Version," PIER Working Paper Archive 04-013, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, revised 15 Mar 2004.
    14. Phillip B. Levine & Tara A. Gustafson & Ann D. Velenchik, 1997. "More Bad News for Smokers? The Effects of Cigarette Smoking on Wages," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 50(3), pages 493-509, April.
    15. A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), 2000. "Handbook of Health Economics," Handbook of Health Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adams, Scott & Bose, Niloy & Rustichini, Aldo, 2014. "How different are smokers? An analysis based on personal finances," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PA), pages 40-50.
    2. Marcela V. Parada‐Contzen, 2019. "The Value of a Statistical Life for Risk‐Averse and Risk‐Seeking Individuals," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(11), pages 2369-2390, November.
    3. Haque, Samiul & Abedin, Naveen & Fakir, Adnan M. S. & Hannan, Rafe & Alam, Rafa, "undated". "Effects of smoking on agricultural productivity," 2019 Annual Meeting, July 21-23, Atlanta, Georgia 291149, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Cowan, Benjamin & Schwab, Benjamin, 2011. "The incidence of the healthcare costs of smoking," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 1094-1102.
    5. Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Torre, Iván, 2022. "Measuring human capital in middle income countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 1036-1067.
    6. repec:fip:a00001:89435 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Palali, Ali, 2015. "Early Smoking, Education, and Labor Market Performance," Discussion Paper 2015-033, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    8. Bhai Moiz, 2020. "The Earning Losses of Smokers," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, March.
    9. Darden, Michael E. & Hotchkiss, Julie L. & Melinda Pitts, M., 2021. "The dynamics of the smoking wage penalty," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Irina B. Grafova & Alan C. Monheit, 2019. "How does actual unemployment and the perceived risk of joblessness affect smoking behavior? Gender and intra-family effects," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 201-227, March.
    11. Lång, Elisabeth & Nystedt, Paul, 2018. "Blowing up money? The earnings penalty of smoking in the 1970s and the 21st century," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 39-52.
    12. Tinna Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir & Harpa H. Berndsen & Bryndís Þ. Guðmundsdóttir & Bryndís A. Gunnarsdóttir & Hugrún J. Halldórsdóttir, 2016. "The effect of obesity, alcohol misuse and smoking on employment and hours worked: evidence from the Icelandic economic collapse," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 313-335, June.
    13. Steph Clampitt & Michael Darden & Julie L. Hotchkiss & M. Melinda Pitts, 2020. "Where There's Smoke...: The Wage Impact of Smoking," Policy Hub, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, vol. 2020(11), pages 1-8, October.
    14. Matt Dickson, 2013. "The Causal Effect of Education on Wages Revisited," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 75(4), pages 477-498, August.
    15. Maryam Dilmaghani, 2022. "The link between smoking, drinking and wages: Health, workplace social capital or discrimination?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 160-183, March.
    16. Lennon, Conor, 2021. "Are the costs of employer-sponsored health insurance passed on to workers at the individual level?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    17. Stepan Ermakov, 2012. "The impact of smoking intensity on wages in Russia," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 25(1), pages 70-94.
    18. Palali, Ali, 2015. "Early Smoking, Education, and Labor Market Performance," Other publications TiSEM b51be057-cb0e-445a-a428-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    19. Vidhura Tennekoon & Robert Rosenman, 2013. "Bias in Measuring Smoking Behavior," Working Papers 2013-10, School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adriana BARONE & Annamaria NESE, 2017. "Investment in Education, Obesity and Health Behaviours," CELPE Discussion Papers 146, CELPE - CEnter for Labor and Political Economics, University of Salerno, Italy.
    2. Jared C. Carbone & Snorre Kverndokk, 2016. "Individual Investments in Education and Health: Policy Responses and Interactions," CESifo Working Paper Series 6154, CESifo.
    3. Carbone, Jared C. & Kverndokk, Snorre, 2014. "Individual investments in education and health," HERO Online Working Paper Series 2014:1, University of Oslo, Health Economics Research Programme.
    4. Michael Grossman, 2006. "Household Production and Health," Springer Books, in: Shoshana Grossbard (ed.), Jacob Mincer A Pioneer of Modern Labor Economics, chapter 13, pages 161-172, Springer.
    5. Grossman, Michael, 2006. "Education and Nonmarket Outcomes," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 577-633, Elsevier.
    6. Petter Lundborg & Carl Hampus Lyttkens & Paul Nystedt, 2016. "The Effect of Schooling on Mortality: New Evidence From 50,000 Swedish Twins," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(4), pages 1135-1168, August.
    7. Aysit Tansel & Ceyhan Ozturk & Erkan Erdil, 2021. "The Impact of Body Mass Index on Growth, Schooling, Productivity, and Savings: A Cross-Country Study," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 2118, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    8. Bautista, María Angélica & González, Felipe & Martinez, Luis R. & Muñoz, Pablo & Prem, Mounu, 2020. "Does Higher Education Reduce Mortality? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Chile," SocArXiv 5s2px, Center for Open Science.
    9. Costa-Font, Joan & Mas, Nuria & Navarro, Patricia, 2013. "Globesity: Is Globalization a Pathway to Obesity?," IESE Research Papers D/1057, IESE Business School.
    10. Borghans, Lex & Golsteyn, Bart H.H., 2006. "Time discounting and the body mass index: Evidence from the Netherlands," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 39-61, January.
    11. Agamoni Majumder & S. Madheswaran, 2022. "Discounting Long-Term Job-Related Health Risks in the Context of Indian Workers," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 65(4), pages 1099-1120, December.
    12. Nathalie Mathieu‐Bolh, 2022. "The elusive link between income and obesity," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 935-968, September.
    13. Golsteyn, Bart H.H. & Grönqvist, Hans & Lindahl, Lena, 2013. "Time Preferences and Lifetime Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 7165, IZA Network @ LISER.
    14. Dodd, Mark C., 2014. "Intertemporal discounting as a risk factor for high BMI: Evidence from Australia, 2008," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 83-97.
    15. Dench, Daniel & Grossman, Michael, 2018. "Health and the Wage Rate: Cause, Effect, Both, or Neither? New Evidence on an Old Question," IZA Discussion Papers 11943, IZA Network @ LISER.
    16. Costa-Font, Joan & Mas, Núria, 2016. "‘Globesity’? The effects of globalization on obesity and caloric intake," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 121-132.
    17. Dora L. Costa, 2015. "Health and the Economy in the United States from 1750 to the Present," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(3), pages 503-570, September.
    18. Jürges Hendrik & Meyer Sophie-Charlotte, 2020. "Educational Differences in Smoking: Selection Versus Causation," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 240(4), pages 467-492, August.
    19. Mikhail Lokshin & Zurab Sajaia, 2007. "The Economic Cost of Smoking: Differences in Wages between Smokers and Non-smokers in Russia," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 6(2), pages 60-80.
    20. Daiji Kawaguchi & Jungmin Lee & Ming‐Jen Lin & Izumi Yokoyama, 2023. "Is Asian flushing syndrome a disadvantage in the labor market?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(7), pages 1478-1503, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:62:y:2009:i:3:p:381-393. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.