The impact of recession on drinking and smoking behaviours in Canada

•Examines the impact of unemployment rate on drinking and smoking in Canada.•Unemployment rate positively impacts weekly alcohol consumption and binge drinking.•Unemployment rate increases the number of cigarettes smoked by the daily smokers.•Unemployment rate has no impact on the probability of being a smoker.•Gender difference in the impact of unemployment rate on smoking and drinking.

Using longitudinal data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey (1994-2009), this study examined the impact of macroeconomic conditions as measured by the provincial unemployment rate on individual alcohol drinking and smoking behaviour. After controlling for unobserved individual specific heterogeneity, the study found that for the overall sample, unemployment rate has a significant positive impact on weekly alcohol consumption as well as on the probability of being a binge drinker. The study further found that unemployment rate has a significant positive impact on the number of cigarettes smoked by the daily smokers. However, unemployment rate has no impact on the probability of being a smoker. The study further examined whether or not there is a gender difference in the impact of unemployment rate on drinking and smoking behaviour. The results suggest that the impact of unemployment rate on drinking and smoking behaviour is more pronounced for males than for females.