Alcoholic Beverages and Cigarettes: Complements or Substitutes? A Pseudo Panel Approach

In this paper, using pseudo panel data we analyze the relation between cigarette and alcoholic beverage consumption within the rational addiction framework. We believe that pseudo panel data approach has many advantages compared to aggregate and panel data models. We found that alcoholic beverages are complements for cigarettes, while it is not the same the other way around. Moreover, we found that alcohol is a gateway for cigarette which further supports our conclusion concerning the reinforcing effect of alcohol consumption on cigarette consumption. We believe that drinking works as a trigger for smoking especially in social settings like bars while it is also possible (although less likely) that people who want to cut cigarette consumption might increase alcohol consumption to cope with resulting stress, which induces an asymmetry in cross price elasticities. However we point out that the complementarity relationship is much stronger and significant. Policy implications for the results are explained and the direction for further research is addressed.