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Title: Estimating Models of Learning in Individual Decision Making with an Application to Youth Smoking
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Matsumoto, Brett
Estimating Models of Learning in Individual Decision Making with an Application to Youth Smoking
Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2015
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT)
Keyword(s): Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Geocoded Data; Learning Hypothesis; State-Level Data/Policy

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In the first chapter of my dissertation, I examine the dynamics of youth smoking behavior using a model of rational addiction with learning. Individuals in the model face uncertainty regarding the parameters that determine their utility from smoking. Through experimentation, individuals learn about how much they enjoy smoking cigarettes as well as the effects of reinforcement, tolerance, and withdrawal. The addition of learning to the dynamic optimization problem of adolescents provides an explanation for the experimentation of the non-smoker. I estimate the parameters of the model using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 and compare the overall fit of the model to the model without learning. The estimated model is also used to analyze the effect of cigarette taxes and anti-smoking policies. I find that the model with learning is better able to fit the observed data and that an increase in cigarette taxes are not only effective in reducing the level of youth smoking, but can even increase welfare for some individuals.
Bibliography Citation
Matsumoto, Brett. Estimating Models of Learning in Individual Decision Making with an Application to Youth Smoking. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2015.