This paper aims to identify the causal effect of smoking on body mass index (BMI) using data from the Lung Health Study …, a randomized trial of smoking cessation treatments. Since nicotine is a metabolic stimulant and appetite suppressant …, quitting or reducing smoking could lead to weight gain. Using randomized treatment assignment to instrument for smoking, we …

This paper aims to identify the causal effect of smoking on body weight using data from the Lung Health Study, a … randomized trial of smoking cessation treatments. We find evidence that quitting smoking leads to an average long-run weight gain … of around 11-12 pounds, and that the drop in smoking in recent decades explains 14% of the concurrent rise in obesity …

A key concern in policy debates over youth smoking is whether preventing children from smoking will stop them from … smoking as adults or merely defer initiation into smoking. This paper estimates determinants of smoking status in late … adolescence viewing smoking at age 14 as an endogenous 'treatment' on subsequent smoking. This approach disentangles causation …

We develop and estimate a life-cycle model in a rational addiction framework where youth choose to smoke, attend school …. We show that education causally reduces smoking. A counterfactual experiment finds that in absence of cigarettes, college …