The Impact of Retirement on Smoking Behavior

We use data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine the relationship between retirement and smoking decisions. Retirement might affect smoking behavior through a change in the opportunity cost of time, job-related factors or income. To estimate the causal effect of retirement on smoking habits, we exploit eligibility for Social Security benefits at age 62 to account for the endogeneity of retirement. We find suggestive evidence that retirement increases the probability of smoking among ever smokers, but this effect is sensitive to the econometric specification used. We also find evidence of heterogeneity in the impact of retirement.