Smokers' Burden on Society: Myth and Reality in Canada

André Raynauld and Jean-Pierre Vidal

Canadian Public Policy, 1992, vol. 18, issue 3, 300-317

Abstract: Several authors maintain that smokers impose a considerable burden on society through hospitalization and medical costs and lost output due to premature death. In this paper, supplementary costs related to smoking are estimated at 669 million dollars for the year 1986 in Canada. However, since future health cost reductions reach 462 million, the net external costs generated do not exceed 207 million. These costs give rise to transfers, but these in turn are more than compensated by other transfers such as taxes paid by smokers and reductions in pension benefits which lead to a net flow overall of 4.3 billion dollars in favor of non-smokers. The direction of this conclusion remains unchanged even considering a wide range of medical hypotheses.

Date: 1992
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