Using a simple model and state-level cross-section U.S. data from 1993 to 1999, quantile-regression estimates of price elasticity and income elasticity for cigarette demand are obtained. It is noted that price elasticity shows a sizable variation across the high and low quantity-quartiles. There...

This paper uses annual pooled data over 1998–2002 for transition countries to examine whether government size or country size matters more in its impact on corruption; and whether piecemeal reforms or comprehensive transition reforms are desirable for corruption reduction. Our results show...

Using recently available data spanning four decades, this paper examines the determinants of smoking prevalence in Japan. Main contributions include (i) examining differences across demographics; (ii) studying the effect of intra-household spousal economic power on smoking; and (iii) providing...

This paper provides a recent look at global smoking trends across population subgroups for a large sample of countries. Attention to international aspects has been scarce in the literature. The prevalence of various smoking control policies across different country groups is discussed. The level...

This paper uses 336 state tax changes across the U.S. spanning 42 years (1956–1997) to provide an updated look at the quasi-experimental price elasticities of cigarette demand. It also studies the sensitivity of these elasticity estimates to changes in the cigarette market over time as well as...

Obesity has been slowly increasing in most countries. This problem has increased to an extent that it is being labeled an epidemic and a leading cause of preventable deaths, second only to smoking. This paper provides a synthesis of the extant economics literature on obesity. More importantly, a...

Using recent cross-state U.S. data, this paper estimates the demand for calls to smoking quitlines. Besides formal insights into the determinants of quitline demand, another key contribution is to provide unique insights on the role of related internet resources, using two novel measures....