The Social Science Journal 47 (2010) 372–391 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Smoking, drinking, and the distribution of adult body weight Hung-Hao Chang a,∗ , David R. Just b,1 , Biing-Hwan Lin c,2 a Department of Agricultural Economics, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec 4, Roosevelt Rd, Taipei 10617, Taiwan b Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, 254 Warren Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA c Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1800 M. Street NW, Washington, DC 20036-5831, USA Received 30 April 2009; received in revised form 28 November 2009; accepted 24 December 2009 Abstract This paper contributes to the recent debate on the association between smoking and obesity by distinguishing the effects of smoking, drinking beer and liquor on the distribution of body weight. Using a national survey in the United States, results show that these three behaviors are correlated. Smoking is found to be insignificantly associated with body weight. These findings alleviate some of the concern about smoking cessation and weight gain. In contrast, a positive association is evident between drinking beer and body weight. This positive association is increasing over the entire distribution of body weight. © 2009 Western Social Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction A major obstacle to behavioral changes with respect to diet or health is the conflicting advice given. For example, of respondents to the American Dietetic Association’s Nutrition Trends Survey in 1995, 21% agreed that there are so many conflicting studies they do not know what to believe (USDA, 2000a, p. 270). One example of conflicting information is the relationship between smoking and body weight. Previous studies have shown that smoking is ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 2 3366 2656; fax: +886 2 2362 8496. E-mail addresses: hunghaochang@ntu.edu.tw (H.-H. Chang), drj3@cornell.edu (D.R. Just), blin@ers.usda.gov (B.-H. Lin). 1 Tel.: +1 607 255 2086. 2 Tel.: +1 202 694 5458. 0362-3319/$ – see front matter © 2009 Western Social Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.soscij.2009.12.006