Arbeitspapier

Biases in Estimates of the Smoking Wage Penalty

Empirical studies on the earnings effects of tobacco use have found significant wage penalties attached to smoking. We produce evidence that suggests that these estimates are significantly upward biased. The bias arises from a general failure in the literature to control for the past smoking behavior of individuals. 2SLS earnings estimates show that the smoking wage penalty is reduced by as much as a third, if past smoking of individuals is controlled for. Our results also point to significant wage gains for individuals that quit smoking, a finding that is of substantial interest, given the lack of evidence on the earnings effects of smoking cessation.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: DIW Discussion Papers ; No. 654

Classification
Wirtschaft
Model Construction and Estimation
Health: Other
Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
Subject
Smoking
wages
earnings regressions

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Anger, Silke
Kvasnicka, Michael
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)
(where)
Berlin
(when)
2006

Handle
Last update
10.03.2024, 11:30 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Anger, Silke
  • Kvasnicka, Michael
  • Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)

Time of origin

  • 2006

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