The Short- and Long-Run Effects of Smoking Cessation on Alcohol Consumption

Abstract

This paper examines the short- and long-term effect of quitting smoking on alcoholicbeverage consumption using the Lung Health Study, a randomized smoking cessationprogram. Building on the theory of rational addiction, I estimate the relationship betweensmoking and alcohol consumption using several different smoking measures.Moreover, I implement a two-stage Least squares estimation strategy utilizing the randomized smoking cessation program as an instrument. The empirical analysis leadsto three salient findings. First, self-reported and clinically verified smoking measuressuggest that quitting smoking lowers alcoholic beverages consumption by 11.5%. Second,cigarette consumption dating back up to 60 months affects alcohol consumption,and those with the highest average consumption see the largest increase in alcohol consumption.Lastly, the length of abstaining from smoking decreases alcohol consumption,where participants decrease alcohol consumption by up to 20% from baseline levelsafter five years of smoking cessation. As a result, these findings suggest that the publichealth and finance benefits are undervalued in smoking cessations treatments.