IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v13y2016i1p113-d61930.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unemployment Rate, Smoking in China: Are They Related?

Author

Listed:
  • Qing Wang

    (School of Business, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin 124221, China)

  • Jay J. Shen

    (School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV 89103, USA)

  • Chris Cochran

    (Department of Health Care Administration, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV 89103, USA)

Abstract

Background : Studies on the relationship between unemployment rate and smoking have yielded mixed results. The issue in China has not been studied. This study aims to examine the influence of unemployment rate on smoking in China. Methods : Logit model and two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation were used to estimate the effects. Estimations were done for 4585 individual over 45 using data from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study conducted in Zhejiang and Gansu provinces in 2008 and 2012. Results : A percent increase in the unemployment rate resulted in the increase in the likelihood of smoking by a combined 9.1 percent for those who smoked including a 2.9% increase for those who smoked 1–10 cigarettes per day; a 2.8% increase for those who smoked 11–20 cigarettes per day; and a 3.4% increase for those who smoked 20 cigarettes or more per day. The effects were stronger for those who were employed. Non-drinkers were more likely to engage in smoking with increased unemployment rate. 2SLS estimation revealed the same association. Conclusions : The unemployment rate was positively associated with smoking behavior. Smoking control and intervention strategies should focus on both the individual′s characteristics and the physical environment in which unemployment rate tend to rise.

Suggested Citation

  • Qing Wang & Jay J. Shen & Chris Cochran, 2016. "Unemployment Rate, Smoking in China: Are They Related?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:1:p:113-:d:61930
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/1/113/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/1/113/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2005. "Healthy living in hard times," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 341-363, March.
    2. Schwarz, Peter, 2012. "Neighborhood effects of high unemployment rates: Welfare implications among different social groups," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 180-188.
    3. Charles, Kerwin Kofi & DeCicca, Philip, 2008. "Local labor market fluctuations and health: Is there a connection and for whom?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1532-1550, December.
    4. Hill, Terrence D. & Angel, Ronald J., 2005. "Neighborhood disorder, psychological distress, and heavy drinking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(5), pages 965-975, September.
    5. Phillip B. Levine & Tara A. Gustafson & Ann D. Velenchik, 1997. "More Bad News for Smokers? The Effects of Cigarette Smoking on Wages," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 50(3), pages 493-509, April.
    6. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, April.
    7. Chaloupka, Frank J. & Warner, Kenneth E., 2000. "The economics of smoking," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 29, pages 1539-1627, Elsevier.
    8. Goel, Rajeev K., 2014. "Economic stress and cigarette smoking: Evidence from the United States," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 284-289.
    9. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    10. Reinhard Schunck & Benedikt Rogge, 2010. "Unemployment and its association with health-relevant actions: investigating the role of time perspective with German census data," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 55(4), pages 271-278, August.
    11. Hugo A. Hopenhayn & Juan Pablo Nicolini, 2009. "Optimal Unemployment Insurance and Employment History," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(3), pages 1049-1070.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Byaro, Mwoya & Mafwolo, Gemma & Ngereza, Caroline, 2023. "Does unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa have asymmetric effects on health? A panel quantile approach," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    2. Tadao Ooka & Yuka Akiyama & Ryoji Shinohara & Hiroshi Yokomichi & Zentaro Yamagata, 2019. "Individual and Regional Characteristics Associated with Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy in Japan: Healthy Parents and Children 21," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-20, December.
    3. Nan Chen & Chang-Gyeong Kim, 2021. "The Moderating Effect of Community-Level Deprivation on the Association between Individual Characteristics and Smoking Behavior among Chinese Adults: A Cross-Level Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-13, May.
    4. Osama Alkouri & Yousef Khader & Ahmad M. Al-Bashaireh, 2022. "Prevalence of Cigarettes and Waterpipe Smoking among Jordanians, Refugees, and Migrants in Jordan and Its Associated Factors: A Secondary Data Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Seong-Uk Baek & Sung-Shil Lim & Jihyun Kim & Jin-Ha Yoon, 2019. "How Does Economic Inequality Affect Infanticide Rates? An Analysis of 15 Years of Death Records and Representative Economic Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-12, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2016. "Does Leaving School in an Economic Downturn Persistently Affect Body Weight? Evidence from Panel Data," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 122-148, January.
    2. Susan Averett & Yang Wang, 2013. "The Effects Of Earned Income Tax Credit Payment Expansion On Maternal Smoking," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(11), pages 1344-1359, November.
    3. Gregory Colman & Dhaval Dave, 2018. "Unemployment and Health Behaviors over the Business Cycle: A Longitudinal View," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(1), pages 93-120, July.
    4. Latif, Ehsan, 2014. "The impact of recession on drinking and smoking behaviours in Canada," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 43-56.
    5. Thorhildur Ólafsdóttir & Birgir Hrafnkelsson & Tinna Ásgeirsdóttir, 2015. "The Icelandic economic collapse, smoking, and the role of labor-market changes," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(4), pages 391-405, May.
    6. Briody, Jonathan & Doyle, Orla & Kelleher, Cecily, 2020. "The effect of local unemployment on health: A longitudinal study of Irish mothers 2001-2011," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    7. María E. Dávalos & Hai Fang & Michael T. French, 2012. "Easing The Pain Of An Economic Downturn: Macroeconomic Conditions And Excessive Alcohol Consumption," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(11), pages 1318-1335, November.
    8. Wang, Huixia & Wang, Chenggang & Halliday, Timothy J., 2018. "Health and health inequality during the great recession: Evidence from the PSID," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 17-30.
    9. Joelle Abramowitz, 2016. "The connection between working hours and body mass index in the U.S.: a time use analysis," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 131-154, March.
    10. Lívia Madeira Triaca & Paulo de Andrade Jacinto & Marco Túlio Aniceto França & César Augusto Oviedo Tejada, 2020. "Does greater unemployment make people thinner in Brazil?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(10), pages 1279-1288, October.
    11. De-Chih Liu, 2017. "The Discouraged Worker and Suicide in the United States," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 134(2), pages 771-787, November.
    12. Irina B. Grafova & Alan C. Monheit & Rizie Kumar, 2020. "How do changes in income, employment and health insurance affect family mental health spending?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 239-263, March.
    13. Nathalie Mathieu‐Bolh, 2022. "The elusive link between income and obesity," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 935-968, September.
    14. Jonathan Briody & Orla Doyle & Cecily Kelleher, 2019. "The Effect of the Great Recession on Health: A Longitudinal Study of Irish Mothers 2001-2011," Working Papers 201918, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    15. Sif Jónsdóttir & Tinna Ásgeirsdóttir, 2014. "The effect of job loss on body weight during an economic collapse," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(6), pages 567-576, July.
    16. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2015. "Recessions, healthy no more?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 17-28.
    17. Bassanini, Andrea & Caroli, Eve, 2014. "Is work bad for health? The role of constraint vs choice," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 1402, CEPREMAP.
    18. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12483 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Giri, Jeeten Krishna & Kumaresan, Talitha, 2021. "The business cycle, health behavior, and chronic disease: A study over Three decades," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    20. Clementine Garrouste & Mathilde Godard, 2016. "The Lasting Health Impact of Leaving School in a Bad Economy: Britons in the 1970s Recession," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 70-92, November.
    21. Xin Xu & Robert Kaestner, 2010. "The Business Cycle and Health Behaviors," NBER Working Papers 15737, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:1:p:113-:d:61930. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.