Asymmetric Social Interaction in Economics: Cigarette Smoking Among Young People in the United States, 1992-1999

Jeffrey E. Harris and Beatriz Lopez-Valcarcel

No 10409, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We analyzed cigarette smoking among people aged 15 - 24 in approximately 90,000 households in the 1992 - 1999 U.S. Current Population Surveys. We modeled social influence as an informational externality, in which each young person's smoking informs her peers about its coolness.' The resulting family smoking game,' with each sibling's smoking endogenous, may have multiple equilibria. We found that the pro-smoking influence of a fellow smoker markedly exceeded the deterrent effect of a non-smoking peer. The phenomenon of asymmetric social influence has implications for financial markets, educational performance, criminal behavior, and other areas of inquiry where peer influence is important.

JEL-codes: I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hea and nep-ure
Note: EH
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