“Why Do Europeans Smoke More than Americans?”
NBER Working Paper No. W12124
Contact: DAVID M. CUTLER
Harvard University – Department of
Economics, National Bureau of Economic Research
(NBER)
Auth-Page: http://ssrn.com/author=42210Co-Author: EDWARD L. GLAESER
Harvard University – Department of
Economics, John F. Kennedy School of Government,
The Brookings Institution, National Bureau of
Economic Research (NBER)
Auth-Page: http://ssrn.com/author=20261Full Text: http://ssrn.com/abstract=893779
ABSTRACT: While Americans are less healthy than Europeans along
some dimensions (like obesity), Americans are significantly less
likely to smoke than their European counterparts. This difference
emerged in the 1970s and it is biggest among the most educated.
The puzzle becomes larger once we account for cigarette prices
and anti-smoking regulations, which are both higher in Europe.
There is a nonmonotonic relationship between smoking and income;
among richer countries and people, higher incomes are associated
with less smoking. This can account for about one-fifth of the
U.S./Europe difference. Almost one-half of the smoking difference
appears to be the result of differences in beliefs about the
health effects of smoking; Europeans are generally less likely to
think that cigarette smoking is harmful.