A pint a day raises a man's pay but smoking blows that gain away

CEPR Discussion Paper No 3308, to be published on 19th April 2002, relates the wages of individual Dutch men to their smoking and drinking behaviour. This study was conducted by CEPR Research Fellow Professor Jan C. van Ours, Tilburg University, Holland. The data for the research was collected in the week before Christmas 2001 from a sample of 650 working Dutch males, aged 26 - 55 years. The study finds that:

• In contrast to women workers wages whose wages appear unaffected, males who drink in moderation have approximately 10% higher wage over the whole sample than those who do not. However, smoking reduces the wages of workers by approximately 10%. If workers smoke and drink the two effects on wages will cancel each out. Workers who don’t smoke or drink will therefore have the same wages as those who do both.

• Smokers may have lower wages because they are discriminated against or they may be less productive because they are more frequently ill and absent. Drinkers may have higher wages, as they believed to be more sociable than non-drinkers. They may also be healthier due to a smaller probability that they will be confronted with coronary heart disease when compared to abstainers or heavy drinkers.

• 40% of males smoke, with an average of 13 cigarettes smoked per day. 93% of males drink, and 40% have one drink per day on average. Drinkers consume a little over 1.5 glass of alcohol per day.

• Older males smoke more than younger males do and higher educated males with partners smoke less than their counterparts. The presence of children does not affect the smoking behaviour of males. And those who to begin smoke before age 16 have significantly higher tobacco use than individuals that start later on (or do not start at all). Religion does not affect smoking behaviour.

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