Description
Book SynopsisThe authors find that smokers tend to be overly optimistic about longevity and future health if they quit later in life. Smokers over 50 revise their perceptions only after a major health shock. If smokers are informed of long-term consequences and are told that quitting can come too late, they are able to evaluate the risks more accurately.
Trade ReviewThis book makes an important contribution to tobacco policy by suggesting a new direction in information policy. In doing so, it skillfully navigates between those who claim that smokers rationally understand what they are doing—and in fact may overestimate the health risks they run—and those who claim excise taxes should be increased to keep smokers from harming themselves. -- Joseph Newhouse, Harvard University
By focusing attention on older smokers,
The Smoking Puzzle provides a new and very valuable set of lessons for tobacco policy. Sloan, Smith, and Taylor document that older smokers do quit in appreciable numbers—but most quit too late, after a lifetime of cigarette smoking has already begun to exact its price. In an argument grounded in economic and psychological theory, and buttressed by copious qualitative and quantitative empirical analysis, the authors show that there is ample room for improvement. Properly designed public policy—well described in the book—can lead to significant increases in quitting among still-healthy older smokers. This book is an essential addition to the literature on smoking. -- Sherry Glied, Columbia University
This is an excellent book. It covers important new material and covers it well. It provides both a broad overview of the economics of smoking and some new analyses of how risk perceptions matter for smoking decisions. The findings and the discussion are important and are likely to have a major impact on the field. -- Jonathan Gruber, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments 1. Linking Information, Risk Perception, and Choice: An Economic Approach 2. Cognition, Perception, and Behavior: Are "Bad Choices" Allowed with Rational Choice? 3. Government Policy and Advertising as Sources of Information for Smokers 4. Can Smokers Expect Personal Health Signals? An Evaluation of the Health Impact of Cigarette Smoking 5. Determinants of Risk Perception 6. Do Health Shocks Influence Smoking Behavior? Cessation and Relapse Patterns in Older Adults 7. Personalized Health Messages and the Perceived Risks of Smoking 8. Risk, Longevity Expectations, and Demand for Cigarettes 9. Conclusions and Policy Implications Notes References Index
