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Purpose The aim of this study is to determine whether tobacco spending has a ‘crowding out’ effect on food and utility spending within Turkish households. It also examines whether tobacco control policies have caused the spending patterns of smoking households to become similar to those of non-smoking households. Methods Using 2007 and 2011 Turkish Household Budget Surveys, we estimated the Quadratic Conditional Engel Curve (QCEC) to determine household spending patterns. The QCEC was estimated using the Three-Stage Least Square (3SLS) method with instrumental variables. Results In Turkey, smoking households spend nearly 8% of their monthly budgets on smoking, while the expenditures of non-smoking households on food, utilities and housing average 9% more than those of smoking households. For both years studied, a crowding out effect was demonstrated whereby smoking expenditure results in decreased household expenditure on food, housing, durable/non-durable goods and education. Conclusions In Turkey, households including at least one smoker spend nearly 8% of their monthly budget on tobacco, with a converse reduction in spending on food and utilities. While tobacco control policies (eg, increasing taxes on tobacco products and extending smoking bans) have decreased tobacco consumption, these policies have had limited impact on the spending patterns of smoking households.

This monograph, a joint effort of the U.S. National Cancer Institute and World Health Organization, examines economic issues in tobacco and tobacco control, including the supply and demand of tobacco products. This first chapter frames the issues addressed in the monograph and describes its organization around key topic areas. Each monograph chapter focuses on the global evidence on these issues, particularly the evidence from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The closing sections of this chapter present chapter conclusions and major overall conclusions generated by the work presented here. Experts in economics, tobacco control, public policy, public health, and other related fields from every region in the world, including high-income countries and LMICs, were assembled to provide the research and analyses presented within these pages. It is hoped that this monograph will help inform the implementation of global tobacco control efforts in the 21st century.