Expensive cigarettes make happy smokers?
- added May 17, 2008
- 1 response
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- lwhi
- added this
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Would smokers prefer that cigarettes be expensive? Certainly, higher cigarette prices would make smokers healthier. There is plenty of evidence that smoking is very bad for you, and almost as much evidence that people smoke fewer cigarettes if they are expensive. But "healthy smokers" are not the same thing as happy smokers.
So, do high cigarette prices make smokers happier? If smokers are rational, they don't. But if smokers are wracked by temptation and are trying unsuccessfully to quit, then higher prices might make them happier by encouraging them to smoke less or even to stop entirely.
This turns out to be a controversial point for economists, surely members of the only profession that could argue about whether smoking is rational. The "rational addiction" theory was put forward by the celebrated pair Kevin Murphy and Nobel laureate Gary Becker. They argue that people weigh the health risks of smoking, the possible social and psychological benefits, and the fact that it is habit-forming before deciding whether to light up.
So, do high cigarette prices make smokers happier? If smokers are rational, they don't. But if smokers are wracked by temptation and are trying unsuccessfully to quit, then higher prices might make them happier by encouraging them to smoke less or even to stop entirely.
This turns out to be a controversial point for economists, surely members of the only profession that could argue about whether smoking is rational. The "rational addiction" theory was put forward by the celebrated pair Kevin Murphy and Nobel laureate Gary Becker. They argue that people weigh the health risks of smoking, the possible social and psychological benefits, and the fact that it is habit-forming before deciding whether to light up.
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While I was a smoker, I believed that 'smoke less, enjoy it more' was a good motto to smoke-by.
Maybe higher cigarette prices would have made a cigarette more of an occasional treat - but I doubt it... when my body signalled that I needed a cigarette, I'd have one. Rational thought was rarely involved.
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