Cigarette Purchase Patterns Among Light and Heavy Smokers

4 Pages Posted: 2 May 2022

See all articles by John Dawes

John Dawes

University of South Australia - Ehrenberg-Bass Institute; UniSA Business

David Corkindale

University of South Australia - UniSA Business School

Andre Bonfrer

Australian National University (ANU); Deakin University

Date Written: April 6, 2022

Abstract

Cigarettes constitute a very large product category with very adverse health outcomes for consumers. Knowing more about cigarette purchasing will inform researchers, and help policymakers make better decisions about this product. We examine how heavy cigarette purchasers differ from ‘light’ or infrequent purchasers and how this buying behaviour differs according to season. The study finds heavy cigarette buyers purchase at 45 times the frequency of light buyers, and also buy approximately 5 times as many cigarettes on each occasion. July is the peak summer month for cigarette purchasing and we find this is driven by a slightly larger proportion of heavy buyers buying in that month than normal, and buying slightly more frequently in July as well.

Keywords: Cigarettes, Seasonality, Heavy Buyers, Light Buyers

JEL Classification: M31

Suggested Citation

Dawes, John and Corkindale, David Reay and Bonfrer, Andre and Bonfrer, Andre, Cigarette Purchase Patterns Among Light and Heavy Smokers (April 6, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4076574 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4076574

John Dawes (Contact Author)

University of South Australia - Ehrenberg-Bass Institute ( email )

GPO Box 2471
Adelaide, 5001
Australia

HOME PAGE: http://www.johndawes.info

UniSA Business ( email )

Adelaide, South Australia 5001
Australia

David Reay Corkindale

University of South Australia - UniSA Business School ( email )

Adelaide, South Australia 5001
Australia

Andre Bonfrer

Deakin University ( email )

Australia

Australian National University (ANU) ( email )

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601
Australia

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