Impatience and Immediacy: A Quasi-Hyperbolic Discounting Approach to Smoking Behavior

This paper investigates smoking status, including nicotine dependence, on the basis of a quasi-hyperbolic discounting approach. This approach reconciles the traditional rational addiction model and the bounded rational addiction model. The paper measures two key parameters: impatience, in line with the former model, and immediacy, in line with the latter model. There are two main conclusions. First, the impatience and immediacy parameters are positively associated with smoking probability. Second, they are positively associated with nicotine dependence.