Weinhold, Diana 
ORCID: 0000-0002-0002-9378 and Chaloupka, Frank J.
(2017)
Smoking status and subjective well-being.
Tobacco Control, 26.
pp. 195-201.
ISSN 1468-3318
Abstract
Background/aims: A debate is currently underway about the FDA's methods for evaluating anti-tobacco regulation. In particular, the US government requires a cost-benefit analysis for significant new regulations, which has led the FDA to consider potential lost subjective well-being (SWB) of ex-smokers as a cost of any proposed anti-tobacco policy. This practice, which significantly limits regulatory capacity, is premised on the assumption that there is in fact a loss in SWB among ex-smokers. Methods: We analyze the relationship between SWB and smoking status using a longitudinal internet survey of over 5000 Dutch adults across five years. We control for socio-economic, demographic and health characteristics, and in a contribution to the literature we additionally control for two potential confounding personality characteristics, habitual use of external substances and sensitivity to stress. In another contribution, we estimate panel fixed effects models that additionally control for unobservable time-invariant characteristics. Results: We find strong suggestive evidence that ex-smokers do not suffer a net loss in SWB. We also find no evidence that the change in SWB of those who quit smoking under stricter tobacco control policies is different from those who quit under a more relaxed regulatory environment. Furthermore, our cross-sectional estimates suggest that the increase in SWB from quitting smoking is not only statistically significant but also of a meaningful magnitude.
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