The Relationship between Smoking and Household Expenditure: A Quantile Regressions Analysis

Household Heads who smoke tend to use their income to buy cigarettes instead of needs such as food and education. Using methods of Moments Quantile Regression, this research analysed the impact of smoking on South African households’ education expenditure. The National Income Dynamic Survey Dataset (NIDs) from 2008 to 2017 was utilised. The results revealed that tobacco smoking among the poorest households in South Africa typically results in decreased budgets for education. Smoking, in particular, has been shown to reduce spending on basics like education. In line with previous research, the study found that tobacco spending consistently outpaces other basic needs (education) across all income quartiles. The poorest tobacco-using households in South Africa typically spend less on education. Given that education is positively associated with quantiles of tobacco expenditure, policies focused on deterring well-educated people from smoking may be helpful. Persons who smoke heavily should be given special attention, while those who smoke less should not be disregarded. The study contributes to the scholarship by broadening the understanding of the harmful consequences of tobacco use on household resource allocation, particularly in a developing country context. It offers substantial empirical evidence demonstrating that smoking diminishes educational expenditure among the most impoverished households, a demographic frequently overlooked in current studies. Keywords: Tobacco Consumption, Income Quantiles, Household Expenditure, Methods of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR), Education