Smoking and Health Investments: Impacts of Health Adaptation and Damage Reversibility

Jared Carbone, Snorre Kverndokk and Ole Rogeberg

No 2003:12, HERO Online Working Paper Series from University of Oslo, Health Economics Research Programme

Abstract: In the present paper we examine how different sets of beliefs about the health effects of smoking would influence a rational smoker. By embedding the rational addiction theory in a Grossman model of health investment modified to take account of psychological adaptation effects, we present a model of a rational addict that allows us to explicitly specify beliefs about a direct and indirect effect on both death risk and utility. This allows us to study how a rational addict would smoke with different beliefs of cancer risks, and with or without the well-documented ability to adapt to health changes. Numerical simulation results illustrate a number of different incentives that influence the smoking paths and health investments under the various beliefs, and suggests that beliefs have different impacts at different ages, providing a richer set of dynamics than might initially be expected.

Keywords: Rational addiction; Demand for health; Adaptation; Risk; Life extension (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C61 D91 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2009-06-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cmp and nep-hea
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