Publication Date

8-2022

Date of Final Oral Examination (Defense)

6-21-2022

Type of Culminating Activity

Thesis

Degree Title

Master of Science in Economics

Department

Economics

Major Advisor

Samia Islam, Ph.D.

Advisor

Michail Fragkias, Ph.D.

Advisor

Kelly Chen, Ph.D.

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the use of quitting aids and smoking cessation using United States (US) survey data from the 2018-2019 Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (TUS-CPS). Becker and Murphy’s (1988) theory of rational addiction implies that strong rational addictions must terminate abruptly. In other words, strong addictions only cease by the user quitting “cold turkey”. I empirically test this hypothesis using a “double-hurdle” approach, outlined by Jones (1994). A smoker’s decision to quit and their conditional quitting success is modeled in two stages. In the first stage, a probit model is estimated for their decision to quit. In the second stage, conditional on their quit attempt, an additional probit model is estimated on whether the quit attempt was successful. The results indicate that the use of certain quitting aids have a significant effect on a smoker’s chances of successfully quitting.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.18122/td.2003.boisestate

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