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.