Abstract
Orientation: The effect of cigarette smoking on health and economic well-being has been widely studied. Its effect on subjective well-being measures, such as life satisfaction, has received less scholarly attention.Research purpose: This study tested the effect of cigarette smoking on life satisfaction amongst smokers in South Africa as a precursor to assessing the effectiveness of traditional tobacco control methods.Motivation for the study: Taxation has long been the primary tool for tobacco control in South Africa; however, the psychological effects of cigarette smoking are not considered when selecting tobacco control tools.Research approach/design and method: The study applied an ordered probit regression to a panel of five waves of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) data to test the relationship between cigarette smoking and life satisfaction in South Africa.Main findings: Smoking was found to negatively affect an individual’s likelihood of reporting higher satisfaction with life relative to non-smokers, a finding that is in line with the limited literature on the subject and with the findings of similar studies that used objective measures of well-being. Furthermore, the current tobacco control framework is not as effective as expected as smoking prevalence is fairly constant, notably amongst the poor, despite large increases in excise duties on cigarettes over time.Practical/managerial implications: The study’s main finding promotes the case for reassessing the approach taken to formulating tobacco control policies and for implementing alternative tobacco control policies that consider the psychological effects of cigarette smoking. As smoking cessation is shown to increase the likelihood of reporting higher life satisfaction, measures aimed at cessation (such as broad-scale smoking bans) could prove more successful than taxation.Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to the limited literature regarding the relationship between subjective well-being and cigarette smoking in the developing world. The study provides insight to whether standard tobacco control policies should be applied generically without accounting for the relationship between cigarette smoking and subjective well-being.
Highlights
With an output value of $770 billion in 2016, the tobacco industry is a major contributor to the global economy, making cigarette smoking an important economic phenomenon (British American Tobacco 2017)
Tobacco control is of particular relevance in the developing world where the poor tend to become dependent on addictive substances such as nicotine (Bobak et al 2000; Van Walbeek 2005b; World Health Organization [WHO] 2004)
As the research on this topic in less developed countries is very limited and because understanding the relationship between cigarette smoking and subjective well-being can provide insight into the social efficiency of different tobacco control policies, this study aimed to examine the relationship between cigarette smoking and subjective well-being in South Africa by testing whether smokers were less likely to report high life satisfaction scores than non-smokers
Summary
With an output value of $770 billion in 2016, the tobacco industry is a major contributor to the global economy, making cigarette smoking an important economic phenomenon (British American Tobacco 2017). The adverse health and environmental effects of cigarette smoking have become more evident, and subsequently more examined, in the second half of the 20th century (Doll et al 2004). In South Africa and around the world, the debate on tobacco control is ongoing with respect to the extent to which cigarette smoking could be controlled and the economic and social effects of this control. Tobacco control is of particular relevance in the developing world where the poor tend to become dependent on addictive substances such as nicotine (Bobak et al 2000; Van Walbeek 2005b; World Health Organization [WHO] 2004). Whilst some countries have significantly increased the aggressiveness of their tobacco control measures in recent years, many others, in the developing world, are slow to follow suit (Bilano et al 2015; Van Walbeek 2005b). Producers of tobacco products have directed considerably more effort towards increasing sales of tobacco products in developing countries (Mackay & Crofton 1996)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
