Smoking in Russia: The ‘Marlboro Man’ Rides but Without ‘Virginia Slims’ for Now

Abstract

Based on two rounds of a nationally representative household survey, this paper presents an exploratory study of risk factors and the economics of the decision to smoke by adults in Russia in the second half of the 1990s. With an overall smoking prevalence of 32.2%, smoking is much more prevalent among men (61.4%) than among women (10.3%). The risk of smoking is on the rise in Russia due mainly to the growing incidence of female smoking, especially in major urban centres, where the impact of modern culture and Western tobacco companies is more profound. The low estimated price elasticities of the decision to smoke for men (−0.085) and for women (−0.628) suggest that an excise tax on cigarettes is not an effective means to reduce the prevalence of smoking. The decision to smoke is also found to be very income inelastic. Formal education, occupation, alcohol consumption, and obesity are associated with smoking in a way similar to developed countries. Comparative Economic Studies (2003) 45, 87–103. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ces.8100001

Population, health and risk factors in a transitional economy

“…The obesity factor is not associated with smoking (Table 7), although among smokers there is indeed a higher proportion of overweight persons. The results diverge from Ogloblin and Brock (2003) who found a significant association between formal education, sex, and smoking. They also reported an increased probability of being smoker with age but only among men.…”

The dynamics of food, alcohol and cigarette consumption in Russia during transition

“…Brainerd and Cutler (2005 show that during the 1990s, increased alcohol consumption and psychological stress were significant causes of increased mortality rates. Ogloblin and Brock (2003) investigate the risk factors and economics of the decision to smoke. Huffman andRizov (2007, 2010) study the factors contributing to rising obesity, and find a strong positive effect of diet and a strong negative effect of smoking on weight and BMI.…”

“…Additionally, the relative prices for fat, protein, alcohol and cigarettes measured at the primary sampling unit (PSU) level are included in the respective specifications. Following Ogloblin and Brock (2003), the prices for alcohol, cigarettes, fat and proteins are calculated as weighted geometric averages using both the high and low prices. In the case of missing information on prices, the prices were imputed from the average for the PSU.…”

Smoking Prevalence and Antismoking Regulations in Transition Countries

“…Price elasticity of demand for cigarettes seems to be lower in transition countries than in developed countries (see Chaloupka and Warner [2000], Gallet and List [2003], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [2000] for reviews of the related literature). For instance, the cigarette price elasticity in Russia (-0.15) has been shown to be much lower than in the United States (-0.4) (Lance et al 2004, Ogoblin andBrock 2003). Considering that increasing smoking prevalence in some (poorer) transition countries has been associated with material deprivation, unemployment, and generally harsh living conditions, one could not expect that increasing price would be a blanket policy recommendation to effectively reduce smoking.…”