Lisa Farrell

The socioeconomic gradient in physical inactivity: evidence from one million adults in England.

Understanding the socioeconomic gradient in physical inactivity is essential for effective health promotion. This paper exploits data on over one million individuals (1,002,216 people aged 16 and over) in England drawn from the Active People Survey (2004-11). We identify the separate associations between a variety of measures of physical inactivity with education and household income. We find high levels of physical inactivity. Further, both education and household income are strongly associated with inactivity even when controlling for local area deprivation, the availability of physical recreation and sporting facilities, the local weather and regional geography. Moreover, the gap in inactivity between those living in high and low income households is already evident in early adult life and increases up until about age 85. Overall, these results suggest that England is building up a large future health problem and one that is heavily socially graded.

Smokers of illicit tobacco report significantly worse health than other smokers

INTRODUCTIONnThe aim of this study was to ascertain whether the health of past and current smokers of illicit tobacco (chop-chop) differs from that of smokers of licit tobacco.nnnMETHODSnThe design was a telephone survey, stratified by state, using computer aided telephone interviewing, with households selected by random digit dialing from the telephone white pages. Setting was all Australian states and territories, 1,621 regular tobacco smokers aged 18+ years. Measures were social and personal characteristics of tobacco smokers, smoking histories and patterns, and health status (SF-8 and disability weights). Binary logistic regression was used to identify variables associated with current and lifetime chop-chop use.nnnRESULTSnCompared with licit-only tobacco smokers, current users of chop-chop had significantly greater odds of beginning smoking aged <16 years (odds ratio [OR] 1.65, 95% CI = 1.09-2.50), of reporting below-average social functioning (OR 1.61, 95% CI = 1.06-2.44), and of a measurable disability (OR 1.95, 95% CI = 1.08-3.51). Lifetime chop-chop users were relatively likely to be less than 45 years of age (OR 1.82, 95% CI = 1.38-2.39), report below-average mental health (OR 1.61, 95% CI = 1.22-2.13) and above-average bodily pain (OR 1.40, 95% CI = 1.06-1.85), smoke more than 120 cigarettes/week (OR 1.39, 95% CI = 1.06-1.83), and to have begun smoking aged <16 years (OR 1.33, 95% CI = 1.01-1.75).nnnDISCUSSIONnCurrent and lifetime users of chop-chop report significantly worse health than smokers of licit tobacco. Investigation of how to communicate this finding to current and potential chop-chop smokers is warranted.

A pack a day for 20 years: Smoking and cigarette pack sizes

This study focuses on the determinants of cigarette consumption. In particular, the impact of cigarette pack sizes on the typical daily consumption of smokers is investigated. Results are presented from a new multi-modal count data model which allows for ‘pack-effects’ in daily consumption levels. Our results suggest that smokers regulate their consumption in accordance with the variety of pack sizes that are available to them.

Alcohol and depression: Evidence from the 2014 health survey for England

BACKGROUNDnA relatively large body of literature examines the association between depression and alcohol consumption, with evidence suggesting a bidirectional causal relationship. However, the endogeneity arising from this reverse causation has not been addressed in the literature.nnnMETHODSnUsing data on 5828 respondents from the Health Survey for England (HSE), this study revisits the relationship between alcohol and depression and addresses the endogenous nature of this relationship. We use information on self-assessed depression, and control for endogeneity using the Lewbel two-staged least square (2SLS) estimation technique.nnnRESULTSnWe find that drinking alcohol promotes depression, and this is consistent across several measures of drinking behaviour including the amount of alcohol consumed, consumption intensity, alcohol dependence and risk of dependence.nnnCONCLUSIONnWhile drinking may be generally accepted and in the case of England, part of the culture, this has costs in terms of both physical and mental health that ought not to be ignored. While public policy has predominantly focused on the physical aspects of excessive alcohol consumption it is possible that these policies will also have a direct positive spillover in terms of the mental health costs, through the impact of lower alcohol consumption on quality of life and wellbeing.

Modeling The Incidence Of Self‐Employment: Individual And Employment Type Heterogeneity

Modelling the incidence of self-employment has traditionally proved problematic. Whilst the individual supply side characteristics of the self-employed are well documented, we argue that the literature has largely neglected demand-side aspects. We explore the determinants of self-employment using individual level data drawn from the U.S. Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). We present results from an econometric framework, the Parameterised Dogit model, that allows us to separately, and simultaneously, model individual heterogeneity (i.e. supply side) and employment type heterogeneity (i.e. demand-side) influences that determine self-employment. Our findings suggest that whilst individual characteristics are important determinants of self-employment, there are also factors which are specific to the type of employment that influence whether an individual is self-employed.

Is Illicit Tobacco Demand Sensitive to Relative Price

A tough fiscal stance has become the norm for discouraging tobacco consumption. Tax and excise rises serve to increase the price of licit relative to illicit tobacco. Consequently there has been a rise in black market tobacco consumption. This paper investigates the degree of substitution between licit and illicit tobacco using novel survey data. We find that illicit tobacco smokers are sensitive to the price ratio between licit and illicit tobacco. This implies that high tobacco taxes have spillover effects that need to be accounted for in policy evaluation.

Understanding the Relationship Between Subjective Wellbeing and Gambling Behavior

This paper examines the relationship between gambling behavior and subjective wellbeing. It is often asserted that populations consist of different types of gamblers: those for whom gambling is a harmless leisure activity and those (pathological/problem gamblers) for whom the activity has harmful effects. One might, therefore, assume that subjective wellbeing will be negativity associated with an individual’s level of gambling addiction. Alternatively, gamblers may choose to gamble because they derive utility from participating in this activity and so the relationship between happiness and gambling might be positively correlated. In this paper we test this association, empirically, using data from the 2010 British Gambling Prevalence Survey. The statistically significant findings from this analysis support the hypothesis that individual wellbeing falls as gambling disorder increases.

Chasing Data: Sources of Data for the Study of Gambling Economics

The last decade has seen significant deregulation in the betting and gaming sector in many developed countries. This deregulation, coupled with technology-led product innovation, has seen a renewed interest in the drivers of the demand for gambling and the prevalence of excessive gambling. The necessity for governments to track the social impacts of the gambling has led to an increased need for high-quality data and this article will review the variety of empirical resources available to researchers. I also discuss innovations in measures or scales employed to quantify excessive gambling and addiction.

Social integration and subjective wellbeing

ABSTRACT Using data from the UK Community Life Survey, we examine the relationship between social integration and subjective wellbeing. We measure social integration along various dimensions, including frequency of interaction with one’s neighbors, perceived strength of belonging to one’s immediate neighborhood and country, length of residence in a neighborhood, and trust in neighbors. Overall, we find that social integration is associated with higher levels of subjective wellbeing. Specifically, our results suggest that an increase in the frequency of interaction with one’s neighbors is associated with an increase in subjective wellbeing. Similarly, an increase in respondent’s perceived strength of belonging to their immediate neighborhood (and country) is associated with an increase in subjective wellbeing. We further discover that an increase in the length of residence in a neighborhood is associated with an increase in subjective wellbeing, and this is also the case for an increase in the level of trust in one’s neighbour.