Smoking and Social Interaction

Panu Poutvaara and Lars-Hinrich Siemers ()

No 2666, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We study the social interaction of non-smokers and smokers as a sequential game, incorporating insights from social psychology and experimental economics into an economic model. Social norms affect human behavior such that non-smokers do not ask smokers to stop smoking and stay with them, even though disutility from smoking exceeds utility from social interaction. Overall, smoking is unduly often accepted when accommodating smoking is the social norm. The introduction of smoking and non-smoking areas does not overcome this specific inefficiency. We conclude that smoking bans may represent a required (second-best) policy.

Keywords: deviant behavior; guilt aversion; social norms; smoking policy; social interaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D11 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2007-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-evo, nep-soc and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Journal of Health Economics, 2008, 27 (6), 1503–1515

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Related works:
Journal Article: Smoking and social interaction (2008)
Working Paper: Smoking and social interaction (2008)
Working Paper: Smoking and Social Interaction (2007)
Working Paper: Smoking and Social Interaction (2007)
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