The Effect of Individual Time Preferences on Smoking Behavior: Insights from Behavioral Economics
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Abstract
Background: We aimed to explore the correlation between the time and risk preferences and the smoking behavior of adult population in western Iran.
Methods: Overall, 792 individuals with the age of 35 to 65 yr participating in an ongoing national cohort study (Persian Cohort) were approached to complete a pre-structured questionnaire in 2017. Time preferences were measured using a standard choice-based method. The individuals' discount rates were identified by questions that offered binary monetary choices on immediate future and distant future, by making trade-offs between them. Probit regression model was used to investigate the relationship between time preferences and smoking when controlling for demographic and socioeconomic variables.
Results: Time and risk preferences had statistically significant direct correlations with smoking. A unit increase in discount rate was associated with a 4.4% percentage point increase in the likelihood of being smoker. A present-biased individual had 5.7% percentage points lower likelihood of being smoker. Moreover, a unit increase in willingness to take the risk increased the likelihood of being a smoker by 1.5% percentage points.
Conclusion: Time and risk preferences are important determinants of smoking behavior. These factors should be considered in designing effective prevention and control programs. Policies that increase the immediate costs of cigarette smoking or the immediate benefits of smoking cessation are likely to have a greater impact on reducing the prevalence of cigarette smoking.
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36. Loewenstein G, Asch DA, Friedman JY, et al (2012). Can behavioural economics make us healthier. BMJ, 344:e3482.
37. Loewenstein G, Brennan T, Volpp KG (2007). Asymmetric paternalism to im-prove health behaviors. JAMA,298 (20): 2415-2417.
38. Zhang L, Rashad I (2008). Obesity and time preference: the health consequences of discounting the future. J Biosoc Sci, 40 (1): 97-113.
39. Giné X, Karlan D, Zinman J (2010). Put your money where your butt is: a commitment contract for smoking cessation. AEJ: Applied Economics, 2 (4):213–235.
40. John L K, Loewenstein G, Troxel AB, et al (2011). Financial incentives for extended weight loss: a randomized, controlled tri-al. J Gen Intern Med, 26 (6): 621-626.
41. Volpp KG , John LK , Troxel AB, et al (2008). Financial incentive–based approaches for weight loss: a randomized trial. JAMA, 300 (22): 2631-2637.
42. Thaler RH, Sunstein CR (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. New Haven: Yale University Press.
43. Galizzi MM (2014). What is really behavioral in behavioral health policy? And does it work?
Appl Econ Perspect P, 36:25-60.
44. Laibson D, List JA (2015). Principles of (behavioral) economics. Am Econ Rev, 105 (5): 385-390.
2. World Health Organization. (2011). Economics of tobacco toolkit: assessment of the economic costs of smoking. Geneva: World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/44596
3. Ekpu VU, Brown AK(2015). The economic impact of smoking and of reducing smoking prevalence: review of evidence. Tob Use Insights,8: 1–35.
4. Rice T (2013). The behavioral economics of health and health care. Annu Rev Public Health, 34: 431-447.
5. Miura T (2019). Does time preference affect smoking behavior? A dynamic panel analysis. J Behav Exp Econ, 78: 170-180.
6. Van Der Pol M (2011). Health, education and time preference. Health Econ, 20 (8): 917-929.
7. Van Der Pol M, Hennessy D, Manns B (2017). The role of time and risk preferences in adherence to physician advice on health behavior change. Eur J Health Econ, 18 (3): 373-386.
8. Grossman M (1972). On the concept of health capital and the demand for health. J Political Econ, 80 (2): 223-255.
9. Van der Pol M, J Cairns (2011). Descriptive validity of alternative intertemporal models for health outcomes: an axiomatic test. Health Econ,20 (7): 770-782.
10. Brown H, Biosca O (2016). Exploring the relationship between time preference, body fatness, and educational attainment. Soc Sci Med,158: 75-85.
11. Smith PK, Bogin B, Bishai D (2005). Are time preference and body mass index associated?: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Econ Hum Biol, 3 (2): 259-270.
12. Becker GS, Murphy KM (1988). A theory of rational addiction. J political Econ,96 (4): 675-700.
13. Chaloupka F (1991). Rational addictive behavior and cigarette smoking. J Political Econ,99 (4): 722-742.
14. Fuchs V (1982). Time Preference and Health: An Exploratory Study. In: Economic Aspects of Health, ED, Fuchs V. University of Chicago Press, 93–120.
15. Poustchi H, Eghtesad S, Kamangar F, et al (2018). Prospective epidemiological research studies in Iran (the persian cohort study): Rationale, objectives, and design. Am J Epidemiol, 187 (4): 647-55.
16. Kang MI, Ikeda S (2016). Time discounting, present biases, and health-related behaviors: Evidence from Japan. Econ Hum Biol, 21: 122-136.
17. Hardisty DJ, Thompson KF Krantz DH, et al (2013). How to measure time prefer-ences: An experimental comparison of three methods. Judgm Decis Mak, 8 (3): 236-249.
18. Kang MI, Ikeda S (2014). Time discounting and smoking behavior: evidence from a panel survey. Health Econ, 23 (12): 1443-1464.
19. Wooldridge JM (2015). Introductory econometrics: A modern approach,6TH edition. Nelson Education. .
20. Cohen J, Ericson KM, Laibson D, et al (2020). Measuring time preferences, J Econ Lit, 58 (2):299–347.
21. Do YK , Shin E (2017). Bidirectional relationship between time preference and adolescent smoking and alcohol use: Evidence from longitudinal data. Addict Behav,70: 42-48.
22. Harrison GW, Lau MI, Rutström EE (2010). Individual discount rates and smoking: Evidence from a field experi-ment in Denmark. J Health Econ, 29 (5): 708-717.
23. Chabris CF , Laibson D , Morris CL, et al (2008). Individual laboratory-measured discount rates predict field behavior. J Risk Uncertain, 37: 237-269.
24. Shuval K, Stoklosa M, Pachucki MC, et al (2016). Economic preferences and fast food consumption in US adults: Insights from behavioral economics. Prev Med,93: 204-210.
25. Meier S, Sprenger C (2010). Present-biased preferences and credit card borrowing. AEJ: Applied Economics, 2 (1): 193-210.
26. Zhang L (2013). Saving and retirement behavior under quasi-hyperbolic discounting. J Econ, 109 (1): 57-71.
27. Ida T (2014). A quasi-hyperbolic discounting approach to smoking behavior. Health Econ Rev, 4: 5.
28. Courtemanche C, Heutel G, McAlvanah P (2015). Impatience, incentives and obesity. Econ J,125: 1-31.
29. Dohmen T, Falk A, Huffman D, et al (2011). Individual risk attitudes: measurement, determinants and behavioral consequences. J Eur Econ Assoc, 9 (3): 522–550.30.
30. Anderson LR, Mellor JM (2008). Predicting health behaviors with an experimental measure of risk preference. J Health Econ,27 (5): 1260-1274.
31. Sutter M , Kocher MG , Glätzle-Rützler D, et al (2013). Impatience and uncertainty: Experimental decisions predict adolescents' field behavior. Am Econ Rev, 103 (1): 510-531.
32. Van Huizen T, PlantengaJ (2014). Job search behaviour and time preferences: Testing exponential versus hyperbolic discounting. De Economist, 162 (3): 223-245.
33. Thaler RH (1981). Some empirical evidence on dynamic inconsistency. Econ Lett, 8 (3): 201-207.
34. O'Donoghue T, M Rabin (1999). Doing it now or later. Am Econ Rev, 89 (1):103-124.
35. O'Donoghue T, Rabin M (2000). The economics of immediate gratification. J Behav Decis Mak, 13 (2): 233-250.
36. Loewenstein G, Asch DA, Friedman JY, et al (2012). Can behavioural economics make us healthier. BMJ, 344:e3482.
37. Loewenstein G, Brennan T, Volpp KG (2007). Asymmetric paternalism to im-prove health behaviors. JAMA,298 (20): 2415-2417.
38. Zhang L, Rashad I (2008). Obesity and time preference: the health consequences of discounting the future. J Biosoc Sci, 40 (1): 97-113.
39. Giné X, Karlan D, Zinman J (2010). Put your money where your butt is: a commitment contract for smoking cessation. AEJ: Applied Economics, 2 (4):213–235.
40. John L K, Loewenstein G, Troxel AB, et al (2011). Financial incentives for extended weight loss: a randomized, controlled tri-al. J Gen Intern Med, 26 (6): 621-626.
41. Volpp KG , John LK , Troxel AB, et al (2008). Financial incentive–based approaches for weight loss: a randomized trial. JAMA, 300 (22): 2631-2637.
42. Thaler RH, Sunstein CR (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. New Haven: Yale University Press.
43. Galizzi MM (2014). What is really behavioral in behavioral health policy? And does it work?
Appl Econ Perspect P, 36:25-60.
44. Laibson D, List JA (2015). Principles of (behavioral) economics. Am Econ Rev, 105 (5): 385-390.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 49 No 9 (2020) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/ijph.v49i9.4100 | |
| PMCID | PMC7898103 | |
| PMID | 33643955 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Smoking Time preferences Discount rate Present bias Behavioral economics | ||
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How to Cite
1.
SOOFI M, AKBARI SARI A, NAJAFI F. The Effect of Individual Time Preferences on Smoking Behavior: Insights from Behavioral Economics. Iran J Public Health. 2020;49(9):1787-1795.
