Who smokes? a look into the determinants of Filipino households' smoking decisions
Date
2008-01
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Abstract
This paper looks into the determinants of the smoking behavior among Filipino households using cross sectional regression analysis of the Family Income and Expenditure Survey 2003. In the interest of public health, this study attempts to provide insights on what can make household members start smoking, and how much the smoker spends on tobacco products.
The divide between smoker and non-smoker households is important to better understand the extent of spending of the smoking households. This paper looks into the variables that can help identify who are the smokers and the non-smokers. Since almost 68.5% of the total household respondents are consuming various tobacco products, the study attempts to show how the smoker households in terms of their decision to smoke, are different from the non-smoker households. Then, it investigates on the factors that trigger and motivate tobacco spending, as well as other factors that can alter consumption decision.
The policy concern of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of preventing the smokers from picking the habit, as against the strategy of reducing total tobacco consumption. This study critically sees which one can give better and sustainable results. It incorporates the role of education in lowering tobacco consumption and smoking incidence, by advancing the effectiveness of education as a mechanism to prevent smoking. Other vectors of variables are considered to determine their influence on Filipino household heads' smoking decisions.
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Keywords
Household decision, Smoking behavior, Smoking, Public health, Tobacco products