Younghwan Song

Time Preference and Time Use: Do Smokers Exercise Less?

Using matched data from the Tobacco Use Supplements to the Current Population Surveys and the American Time Use Surveys, this paper examines how differences in time preference, as measured by smoking status, affect time spent on various non-market activities in a day. Even after controlling for a host of variables, the results show that individuals with a higher rate of time preference — current smokers — spend more time on non-market activities that provide immediate gratification, such as watching television, but less time on non-market activities that provide long-term returns, such as exercising and education, compared with those who never smoked.

The Changing Face of Child Poverty in California

in California have surpassed those of the nation. This demographic profile of California’s low-income families highlights the high number and rate of low-income children in California.1 It also features several facts that challenge stereotypes about these families. For example, a large and growing majority of poor children live in working families, and as many of California’s poor children live in two-parent as in single-parent families.