The Determinants of Smoking Initiation - Empirical Evidence for Germany

Silja Göhlmann
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Silja Goehlmann

No 27, Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract: This paper aims at analyzing the determinants of the decision to start smoking using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP). The data used is a combination of retrospective information on the age individuals started smoking and,by tracing back these individuals within the panel structure up to the point they started smoking, information on characteristics at the age of smoking initiation. In contrast to other papers, it is possible to control for the environment at the time of smoking onset that might have influenced the decision to start. Moreover, never-smokers can be distinguished from ex-smokers. I estimate discrete, but also continuous time hazard models. Results indicate that young higher educated individuals are less likely to start, whereas the hazard of starting among older individuals is not affected by education. Furthermore, parental smoking during the whole childhood significantly increases the probability to start. Almost no significant effects are found regarding parental education, labor market status and living in a large city. Price effects could not be identified, because in Germany prices did not vary during the last decades up to 2002.

Keywords: GSOEP; youths; discrete time hazard model; log-logistic duration analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Working Paper: The Determinants of Smoking Initiation: Empirical Evidence for Germany (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:rwirep:27

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