Think those cigarettes only cost $4 a pack? Think again. In a new study, Duke researchers have found the real cost of a pack of cigarettes is closer to $40.
In their soon-to-be released book The Price of Smoking, Professor of Economics Frank Sloan and four colleagues found that when illness, death and other costs are computed, the true cost of smoking totals $39.66 per pack. “Thirty-three dollars accrues to the private individual, $5 to the family and the rest of it is the external costs—the costs to people that are outside of the family,” Sloan said.
Sloan and his colleagues also found that in some cases, society saves money because of premature deaths of smokers, who, over the long-run, will collect less money from Medicare and Social Security.
“It pays to be dead—by keeping people healthier, they live longer and receive Social Security benefits that would otherwise be returned to the trust fund,” Sloan said.
In order to calculate these economic costs, researchers assigned smokers a value of $100,000 per year of life.
“You assign a certain value to mortality, differences in earning, pension, income... if you add those all up, you come up with the numerical value for each smoker,” said Dr. Jan Ostermann, a research associate in the Center for Health Policy who assisted in the study.
These values were also computed for smokers suffering from illness. “We ask elderly people to trade off money for being in a state of disability... so actually your life is only worth $50,000 [a year],” Sloan said.
External costs to society, such as work loss and other costs not borne by the smoker, were also considered. “When I lose a day of work, maybe I get sick leave, but in society it costs something,” Sloan said. “People are losing money from work—some people are dying prematurely, and yet there’s a lot of training embodied [in those individuals].”
In terms of cumulative costs, the researchers found that smoking costs a 24-year-old male smoker over his lifetime approximately $220,000. For a 24-year-old female this value is $106,000.
Researchers noted, however, that the value for women was slightly underestimated because the older women in their study had not been smoking as intensively or for as long as the younger women. Sloan also explained that the study focused on people who smoke for a lifetime rather than individuals who experiment during high school and college. Thus, the results are most applicable for those who begin smoking at age 24.
These findings have elicited both positive and negative responses from across the nation. Sloan and Ostermann cited a woman in Michigan who found the research to be more offensive than enlightening. “She was very mad about the book,” said Sloan. “She says that we’re infringing upon smokers’ rights.” Ostermann noted that the woman referred to them as “the lowest scum of the earth.”
Duke students and employees also had a range of responses to the study’s findings. “I believe it—it’s not the best habit to have in the world,” said Nailah Reade, an administrative secretary in the Department of Political Science. “It’s not that people who smoke don’t know that it’s bad, it’s just that we don’t care.”
A smoker for six years, Reade was interested in the book but unsure of how strong its impact upon smokers would be. “Because its an addiction—the oral fixation and the craving for nicotine—and even though you have all of the information about cancer and emphysema, the information alone is not enough to break the addiction for everyone,” she said.
Nevertheless, some Duke students remain unconcerned about their smoking. “I know that this will harm me in some way. There’s no need for details,” freshman Anil Aktaran said. Many students who smoke said they either plan to quit after college, do not consider themselves addicted or are generally unconcerned about their habits.
Students mentioned that eating habits, drinking on the weekends, academic stress and emotional concerns can all trigger the need to smoke.
Although he said he was skeptical of its findings, freshman Nick Arrivo expressed an interest in the book. “I object to the fact that they’re putting a price tag on my life [as a smoker],” he said. “You could really apply the same analysis to anything that has a negative impact on your health.”
Ultimately, the researchers hope that their publication will inform smokers, potentially empowering them to quit. “If they know more information, then they should be able to make better decisions,” Sloan said. Until then, he added, society will continue sweeping up the ashes.
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