Smoking in Russia: The ‘Marlboro Man’ Rides but Without ‘Virginia Slims’ for Now CONSTANTIN OGLOBLIN & GREGORY BROCK Department of Finance and Economics, P.O. Box 8151, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460-8151, USA. E-mails: coglobli@gasou.edu, gbrock@gasou.edu Based on two rounds of a nationally representative household survey, this paper presents an exploratory study of risk factors and the economics of the decision to smoke by adults in Russia in the second half of the 1990s. With an overall smoking prevalence of 32.2%, smoking is much more prevalent among men (61.4%) than among women (10.3%). The risk of smoking is on the rise in Russia due mainly to the growing incidence of female smoking, especially in major urban centres, where the impact of modern culture and Western tobacco companies is more profound. The low estimated price elasticities of the decision to smoke for men (0.085) and for women (0.628) suggest that an excise tax on cigarettes is not an effective means to reduce the prevalence of smoking. The decision to smoke is also found to be very income inelastic. Formal education, occupation, alcohol consum- ption, and obesity are associated with smoking in a way similar to developed countries. Comparative Economic Studies (2003) 45, 87–103. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ces.8100001 Keywords: Russia, smoking, Russian health JEL Classifications: I1, P5, R2 INTRODUCTION According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (Lopez, 1997), smoking has become, or soon will be, the leading cause of death throughout the world and in Eastern Europe in particular. In this respect Russia faces an especially grave danger, as 300,000 Russians die each year from smoking-related illnesses. The country’s population is in absolute decline with low male life expectancy, in part, because of smoking (Stone, 2000). Further, smoking may increase the risk of certain anxiety disorders among young men (Johnson et al., 2000) leading to the higher stress believed to contribute to higher mortality (Stone, 2000). Comparative Economic Studies, 2003, 45, (87–103) r 2003 ACES. All rights reserved. 0888-7233/03 $25.00 www.palgrave-journals.com/ces