Smoking for the poor and vaping for the rich? Distributional concerns of new smoking methods

Vincenzo Carrieri and Andrew Jones

Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers from HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York

Abstract: We compare income-related inequalities in the use of traditional and of new smoking methods (e-cigarettes and other nicotine delivery products (NPD)) and we apply a regression-based decomposition method for rank- dependent inequality measures to estimate the source of inequalities in the new smoking methods. Using data from the 2013 wave of the Health Survey for England, we find that taking into account the new smoking methods reduces the extent of pro-poor inequalities in smoking. Significant pro-rich inequalities are found in ecig and NDP consumption due to higher take-up among richer, younger and better-educated smokers. These patterns might lead to a long-run equilibrium with higher average health and higher socioeconomic health inequalities.

Keywords: smoking; income-related health inequalities; electronic-cigarettes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:yor:hectdg:16/10

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