Smoking habit changes and body weight: causal estimates from the British Household Panel Survey

Summary

 This paper evaluates the causal relationship between smoking and body
weight through two waves (2004-2006) of the British Household Panel
Survey. We model the effect of changes in smoking habits, such as
quitting or reducing, and account for the heterogeneous responses of
individuals located at different points of the body mass distribution by
quantile regression. We investigate the robustness of our results by
means of a large set of control groups and the application of an
instrumental variable (IV) estimator. Our results reveal the positive
effect of quitting smoking on weight changes, which is also found to
increase in the highest quantiles, whereas the decision to reduce
smoking does not affect body weight. Lastly, cost-benefit analysis
reveals that quitting smoking implies savings for the National Health
Service which are much larger than the costs associated with increased
obesity.