’Smoke It, Forget It, But Always Regret It.’ – The Economic And Social Impacts Of Tobacco Smoking

Abstract

As reported by the World Health Statistics 2016 smoking causes every second death in the world. The prediction of the World Health Organisation is that between 2025 and 2050 the number of cumulative deaths from smoking will be around ten million a year.

Smoking is frequently analysed in scientific literature from a health, moral or criminological perspectives, because addictive disorders precipitate and perpetuate far-reaching social problems. Individuals and their families suffer from relationship imbalances or in the worst case, from loss of relatives. Companies experience additional costs resulting from increasing absenteeism and in the long run their financial performance is declining. At the macro-environmental level, it leads to economic and social problems such as the need of expensive health treatments.

This paper intends to examine the economic aspects of the impacts of smoking. Our goal is to reveal the economic and social harm and possible benefits related to the production and trade as well as consumption of tobacco products. The possible benefits linked with tobacco products are rarely analysed even though some individuals, businesses and society at large can, in some ways, benefit from them.

In the first part of the article the economic theories and related questions are introduced which provide the theoretical framework for the empirical research. Following the theoretical review, the economic and social benefits, harms, and costs caused by the use of tobacco products are presented based on available statistical data and secondary research.