The Icelandic economic collapse, smoking, and the role of labor-market changes.

Smoking is related to health deterioration through increased risk of various diseases. Changes in this health behavior could contribute to the documented health improvements during economic downturns. Furthermore, the reasons for changes in behavior are not well understood. We explore smoking behavi...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:European Journal of Health Economics Vol. 16; no. 4; pp. 391 - 406
Main Authors: Olafsdóttir, Thorhildur, Hrafnkelsson, Birgir, Asgeirsdóttir, Tinna Laufey, Ólafsdóttir, Thorhildur, Ásgeirsdóttir, Tinna Laufey
Format: research Journal Article
Published: Springer Nature May2015
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=109726416&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ccm
    uiTerm: 109726416
    longDbName: CINAHL Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    dissinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        16187598
        V7V
      jtl: European Journal of Health Economics
      issn: 16187598
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: May2015
      vid: 16
      iid: 4
      pid: 237
      pub: Springer Nature
      place: New York, New York
    artinfo:
      ui:
        109726416
        NLM24706052
        2012984746
        10.1007/s10198-014-0580-x
        NLM24706052
        109726416
      ppf: 391
      ppct: 15
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: The Icelandic economic collapse, smoking, and the role of labor-market changes.
      aug:
        au:
          Olafsdóttir, Thorhildur
          Hrafnkelsson, Birgir
          Asgeirsdóttir, Tinna Laufey
          Ólafsdóttir, Thorhildur
          Ásgeirsdóttir, Tinna Laufey
        affil: Faculty of Economics, University of Iceland, Oddi v/Sturlugötu, 101, Reykjavík, Iceland
      sug:
      ab: Smoking is related to health deterioration through increased risk of various diseases. Changes in this health behavior could contribute to the documented health improvements during economic downturns. Furthermore, the reasons for changes in behavior are not well understood. We explore smoking behavior in Iceland before and after the sudden and unexpected economic crisis in 2008. Furthermore, to explore the mechanisms through which smoking could be affected we focus on the role of labor-market changes. Both real income and working hours fell significantly and economic theory suggests that such changes can affect health behaviors which in turn affect health. We use individual longitudinal data from 2007 to 2009, incidentally before and after the crisis hit. The data originates from a postal survey, collected by The Public Health Institute in Iceland. Two outcomes are explored: smoking participation and smoking intensity, using pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) and linear probability models. The detected reduction in both outcomes is not explained by the changes in labor-market variables. Other factors in the demand function for tobacco play a more important role. The most notable are real prices which increased in particular for imported goods because of the devaluation of the Icelandic currency as a result of the economic collapse.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
    refInfo:
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N