<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This paper investigates the effect of peer smoking on individual smoking among youths in 10 countries that participated in the European Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). I control for endogeneity in school selection and unobserved school-level characteristics through the use of school fixed-effects. I use instrumental variables to address the simultaneity in peer and individual behaviours. Identification arises by comparing students in different classes within the same school. On average, an increase in the share of classmates who smoke by 10 percentage points increases the probability that an individual in that class will smoke by 3 to 6.9 percentage points. The results imply that any policy intervention such as anti-smoking messages, smoking bans, or higher cigarette prices will be even more cost-effective because of the social multiplier effect of peers – policies affecting some individuals in a group will generate spillovers to others through the peer effect.</p></abstract>

This paper investigates the effect of peer smoking on individual smoking among youths in 10 countries that participated in the European Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). I control for endogeneity in school selection and unobserved school-level characteristics through the use of school fixed-effects. I use instrumental variables to address the simultaneity in peer and individual behaviours. Identification arises by comparing students in different classes within the same school. On average, an increase in the share of classmates who smoke by 10 percentage points increases the probability that an individual in that class will smoke by 3 to 6.9 percentage points. The results imply that any policy intervention such as anti-smoking messages, smoking bans, or higher cigarette prices will be even more cost-effective because of the social multiplier effect of peers – policies affecting some individuals in a group will generate spillovers to others through the peer effect.

Peer Effects and Youth Smoking in the European Global Youth Tobacco Survey

Review of Economic Perspectives

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Peer Effects and Youth Smoking in the European Global Youth Tobacco Survey"}

This paper investigates the effect of peer smoking on individual smoking among youths in 10 countries that participated in the European Global Youth Tobacco...

Peer Effects and Youth Smoking in the European Global Youth Tobacco Survey

Published Online: Sep 23, 2017

Page range: 219 - 238

Received: Dec 20, 2016

Accepted: Jun 30, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/revecp-2017-0012

Keywords
adolescent smoking, European youths, peer effects, substance use

© 2017 Silda Nikaj, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Peer Effects and Youth Smoking in the European Global Youth Tobacco Survey

Published Online: Sep 23, 2017

Page range: 219 - 238

Received: Dec 20, 2016

Accepted: Jun 30, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/revecp-2017-0012

Keywordsadolescent smoking, European youths, peer effects, substance use

© 2017 Silda Nikaj, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
adolescent smoking, European youths, peer effects, substance use