The demand for tobacco in post-unification Italy
This paper studies the demand for tobacco products in post-unification Italy. We construct a very detailed panel data set of yearly consumption in the 69 Italian provinces from 1871 to 1913 and use it to estimate the demand for tobacco products. We find support for the Becker and Murphy (J Polit Eco...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Springer
2014
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30249/ |
| _version_ | 1848793951645990912 |
|---|---|
| author | Ciccarelli, Carlo De Fraja, Gianni |
| author_facet | Ciccarelli, Carlo De Fraja, Gianni |
| author_sort | Ciccarelli, Carlo |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This paper studies the demand for tobacco products in post-unification Italy. We construct a very detailed panel data set of yearly consumption in the 69 Italian provinces from 1871 to 1913 and use it to estimate the demand for tobacco products. We find support for the Becker and Murphy (J Polit Econ 96:675–700, 1988) rational addiction model. We also find that, in the period considered, tobacco was a normal good in Italy: aggregate tobacco consumption increased with income. Subsequently, we consider separately the four types of products which aggregate tobacco comprises (fine-cut tobacco, snuff, cigars, and cigarettes), and tentatively suggest that habit formation was a stronger factor on the persistence of consumption than physical addiction. The paper ends by showing that the introduction of the Bonsack machine in the early 1890s did not coincide with changes in the structure of the demand for tobacco, suggesting cost-driven technological change. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:08:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-30249 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:08:27Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Springer |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-302492020-05-04T16:45:44Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30249/ The demand for tobacco in post-unification Italy Ciccarelli, Carlo De Fraja, Gianni This paper studies the demand for tobacco products in post-unification Italy. We construct a very detailed panel data set of yearly consumption in the 69 Italian provinces from 1871 to 1913 and use it to estimate the demand for tobacco products. We find support for the Becker and Murphy (J Polit Econ 96:675–700, 1988) rational addiction model. We also find that, in the period considered, tobacco was a normal good in Italy: aggregate tobacco consumption increased with income. Subsequently, we consider separately the four types of products which aggregate tobacco comprises (fine-cut tobacco, snuff, cigars, and cigarettes), and tentatively suggest that habit formation was a stronger factor on the persistence of consumption than physical addiction. The paper ends by showing that the introduction of the Bonsack machine in the early 1890s did not coincide with changes in the structure of the demand for tobacco, suggesting cost-driven technological change. Springer 2014-05-01 Article PeerReviewed Ciccarelli, Carlo and De Fraja, Gianni (2014) The demand for tobacco in post-unification Italy. Cliometrica, 8 (2). pp. 145-171. ISSN 1863-2505 Smoking Italian Kingdom Rational addiction Panel data http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11698-013-0097-z doi:10.1007/s11698-013-0097-z doi:10.1007/s11698-013-0097-z |
| spellingShingle | Smoking Italian Kingdom Rational addiction Panel data Ciccarelli, Carlo De Fraja, Gianni The demand for tobacco in post-unification Italy |
| title | The demand for tobacco in post-unification Italy |
| title_full | The demand for tobacco in post-unification Italy |
| title_fullStr | The demand for tobacco in post-unification Italy |
| title_full_unstemmed | The demand for tobacco in post-unification Italy |
| title_short | The demand for tobacco in post-unification Italy |
| title_sort | demand for tobacco in post-unification italy |
| topic | Smoking Italian Kingdom Rational addiction Panel data |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30249/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30249/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30249/ |