TY  - JOUR
AU  - Viscusi,W. Kip
AU  - Hersch,Joni
TI  - The Mortality Cost to Smokers
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13599
PY  - 2007
Y2  - November 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13599
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13599.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
W. Kip Viscusi
Vanderbilt Law School
131 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203-1181
Tel: 615/343-7715
E-Mail: kip.viscusi@vanderbilt.edu

Joni Hersch
Vanderbilt Law School
131 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203-1181
E-Mail: joni.hersch@vanderbilt.edu
AB  - This article estimates the mortality cost of smoking based on the first labor market estimates of the value of statistical life by smoking status.  Using these values in conjunction with the increase in the mortality risk over the life cycle due to smoking, the value of statistical life by age and gender, and information on the number of packs smoked over the life cycle, produces an estimate of the private mortality cost of smoking of $222 per pack for men and $94 per pack for women in 2006 dollars, based on a 3 percent discount rate.  At discount rates of 15 percent or more, the cost decreases to under $25 per pack.
ER  -