The earning losses of smokers

Artikel

Using within-family variation from twins and siblings, I find that smokers earn approximately 16% less than nonsmokers. Possible explanations for this earning difference are addiction-related productivity declines and earning reductions from higher health insurance costs. To investigate further, I use variation in the provision of employer-supplied health insurance (ESHI) to examine the mechanism of whether the addiction or insurance component has a larger influence on earnings. While I generally observe a larger earning penalty for smokers with ESHI than smokers without ESHI, the earning difference is statistically indistinguishable from zero.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: IZA Journal of Labor Economics ; ISSN: 2193-8997 ; Volume: 9 ; Year: 2020 ; Issue: 1 ; Pages: 1-21 ; Warsaw: Sciendo

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Health Behavior ; Health Insurance, Public and Private ; Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
• Subject: twins ; compensating differentials ; smoking ; incidence of smoking ; employer-supplied health insurance

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Bhai, Moiz
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Sciendo
• (where): Warsaw
• (when): 2020

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.2478/izajole-2020-0001
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/222152
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET