The Impact of Smoking Bans on Smoking and Consumer Behavior: Quasi‐Experimental Evidence from Switzerland

In this paper, we exploit the progressive implementation of smoking bans in public venues at the state level in Switzerland to evaluate both the direct effects on smoking and the potential unintended consequences of these legislations on consumer behaviors as measured by visiting restaurants/bars and discos (‘going out’). Our results indicate that public venue smoking bans in Switzerland reduce smoking rates, but the findings do not emerge until 1 year following the ban. This pattern of results is consistent with delays in ban enforcement on the part of business owners, difficulties in changing addictive behaviors such as smoking, and/or learning on the part of smokers. We find evidence that smoking bans influence going‐out behavior and there is substantial heterogeneity across venue and consumer characteristics. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

One last puff? Public smoking bans and smoking behavior

This paper investigates the short-term effects of public smoking bans on individual smoking behavior. In 2007 and 2008, state-level smoking bans were gradually introduced in all of Germany's federal states. We exploit this variation to identify the effect that smoke-free policies had on individuals’ smoking propensity and smoking intensity. Using rich longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, our difference-in-differences estimates show that the introduction of smoke-free legislation in Germany did not change average smoking behavior within the population. However, our estimates point to important heterogeneous effects. Individuals who go out more often to bars and restaurants did adjust their smoking behavior. Following the ban, they became less likely to smoke and also smoked less.     

Compliance and support for bans on smoking in licensed venues in Australia: findings from the International Tobacco Control Four‐Country Survey

Objective: To examine attitudes towards and compliance with the recent Australian bans on smoking in licensed venues, and to explore effects on smoking behaviour. Methods: Three Australian states (Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia) implemented a total ban on smoking in all enclosed licensed premises in 2006, and two others (Victoria and New South Wales) did so in mid‐2007. We used data from smokers residing in these states for each of the six waves of the ITC‐4 country survey (2002–2007; average n=1,694). Results: Consistent with the majority of international findings, observed compliance was reported by more than 90% of smokers from a pre‐ban situation of indoor smoking being the norm. Attitudes became more positive in the year before the ban, but more than doubled in the year the bans were implemented. The associations found for the leading states were replicated by the lagging states a year later. We found no evidence for any increase in permitting smoking inside the home after the bans took effect. Further, we were unable to find any evidence of reductions in daily cigarette consumption or any increase in quitting activity due to the bans. Implications: These results add to a growing body of international research that suggests that smokers are readily able to comply with, and increasingly support, smoke‐free bars, though the bans may have limited effect on their smoking habits.     

Workplace smoking ban effects on unhappy smokers

Economists usually draw a distinction between smokers. They distinguish 'happy addicts' à la Becker-Murphy from 'unhappy addicts' who state that smoking is a mistake and call for some help to quit. When evaluating tobacco control policies, it might be important to distinguish their effects on those two types of population. Indeed, such policies are welfare improving only if they help unhappy addicts to quit. We investigate the effect of the French workplace smoking ban on a sample of presumably 'unhappy addicts', smokers who consult tobacco cessation services. We show that the ban caused an increase in the demand for such services, and that this increase was larger in cold and rainy areas. It also induced an increase in the percentage of successful attempts to quit. Workplace smoking bans might be welfare improving since they seem to help 'unhappy addicts' to reconcile their behavior with their preferences.     

WHERE THERE'S SMOKING,THERE'S FIRE: THE EFFECTS OF SMOKING POLICIES ON THE INCIDENCE OF FIRES IN THE USA

Fires and burns are among the leading causes of unintentional death in the USA. Most of these deaths occur in residences, and cigarettes are a primary cause. In this paper, I explore the relationship between smoking, cigarette policies, and fires. As smoking rates decline, there are fewer opportunities for fires; however, the magnitude of any reduction is in question. Using a state‐level panel, I find that increases in cigarette prices are associated with fewer residential fires and deaths. However, laws regulating indoor smoking are associated with more fires; in particular, restaurant and bar smoking bans are associated with an increase in fires at eating and drinking establishments. This increase is important given the growing popularity of smoking bans in the USA and around the world. As workplaces, schools, and businesses ban smoking and remove ashtrays, smokers who continue to smoke are left without safe options for disposal of cigarettes, leading to more opportunities for fires to start. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Do Public Smoking Bans have an Impact on Active Smoking? Evidence from the UK

The literature on the effects of public smoking bans on smoking behaviour presents conflicting results and there is limited evidence on their impact on active smoking. This paper evaluates the impact of smoking bans on active smoking using data from the British Household Panel Survey and exploiting the policy experiment provided by the differential timing of the introduction of the bans in Scotland and England. We assess the short‐term impact of the smoking bans by employing a series of flexible difference‐in‐differences fixed effects panel data models. We find that the introduction of the public smoking bans in England and Scotland had limited short‐run effects on both smoking prevalence and the total level of smoking. Although we identify significant differences in trends in smoking consumption across the survey period by population sub‐groups, we find insufficient evidence to conclude that these were affected by the introduction of the smoking bans. These results challenge those found in the public health literature but are in line with the most recent strand of economic literature indicating that there is no firm evidence on the effects of smoking bans on smoking. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Smoking bans,cigarette prices and life satisfaction

The consequences of tobacco control policies for individual welfare are difficult to assess, even more so when related consumption choices challenge people's willpower. We therefore evaluate the impact of smoking bans and cigarette prices on subjective well-being by analyzing data for 40 European countries and regions between 1990 and 2011. We exploit the staggered introduction of bans and apply an imputation strategy to study the effect of anti-smoking policies on people with different propensities to smoke. We find that higher cigarette prices reduce the life satisfaction of likely smokers. Overall, smoking bans are barely related to subjective well-being, but increase the life satisfaction of smokers who would like to quit smoking. The latter finding is consistent with cue-triggered models of addiction and the idea of bans as self-control devices.     

Cigarette smoking and self-control

This paper empirically studies time inconsistent preferences in the context of cigarette smoking behavior. With hyperbolic discounting, an individual has time inconsistent preferences, which give rise to a lack of self-control, i.e., she may perpetually postpone the execution of a plan. This implies that a smoker who wants to quit has a demand for control devices, e.g., a smoking ban in public areas or a hike in cigarette excise taxes. This paper empirically tests this implication, using a sample that is based on survey data from Taiwan. The estimation results indicate that a smoker's intention to quit has a positive effect on the smoker's support for smoking bans and a cigarette excise tax increase. These results lend support to the validity of the time inconsistent preferences in the context of cigarette smoking behavior. This casts doubt on the validity of the assumption that individuals have time consistent preferences in Becker and Murphy's [Becker, G.S., Murphy, K.M., 1988. A theory of rational addiction. Journal of Political Economy 96 (4), 675-700] rational addiction model.     

Love Conquers all but Nicotine: Spousal Peer Effects on the Decision to Quit Smoking

If two partners smoke, their quit behavior may be related through correlation in unobserved individual characteristics and through common shocks. However, there may also be a causal effect whereby the quit behavior of one partner is affected by the quit decision of the other partner. If so, there is a spousal peer effect on the decision to quit smoking. We use data containing retrospective information of Dutch partnered individuals about their age of onset of smoking and their age of quitting smoking. We estimate mixed proportional hazard models of starting rates and quit rates of smoking in which we allow unobserved heterogeneity to be correlated across partners. Using a timing of events approach, we determine whether the quitting‐to‐smoke decision of one partner has a causal effect on the quitting‐to‐smoke decision of the other partner. We find no evidence of substantial spousal peer effects in the decision to quit smoking. Apparently, love conquers all but nicotine addiction. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Association between Point-of-Sale Advertising Bans and Youth Experimental Smoking: Findings from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS)

Background and Objectives: while existing research has demonstrated a positive association between exposure to point-of-sale (POS) tobacco advertising and youth smoking, there is limited evidence on the relationship between POS advertising restrictions and experimental smoking among youth. This study aims to fill this research gap by analyzing the association between POS advertising bans and youths'' experimental smoking. Methods: Global Youth Tobacco Surveys from 130 countries during 2007–2011 were linked to the WHO “MPOWER” tobacco control policy measures to analyze the association between POS advertising bans (a dichotomous measure of the existence of such bans) and experimental smoking using weighted logistic regressions. All analyses were clustered at the country level and controlled for age, parents'' smoking status, GDP per capita, and country-level tobacco control scores in monitoring tobacco use, protecting people from smoke, offering help to quit, warning about the dangers of tobacco, enforcing promotion/advertising bans, and raising taxes on tobacco. Results: The results suggest that a POS advertising ban is significantly associated with reduced experimental smoking among youth (OR = 0.63, p < 0.01), and that this association is seen for both genders (boys OR = 0.74, p < 0.1; girls OR = 0.52, p < 0.001). Conclusions: POS advertising bans are significantly associated with reduced experimental smoking among youth. Adopting POS advertising bans has the potential to reduce tobacco use among their youth in countries currently without such bans.     

Effect of feedback regarding urinary cotinine and brief tailored advice on home smoking restrictions among low-income parents of children with asthma: a controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Since most smoker parents of children with asthma are unable to quit, an alternative measure that would reduce their children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is to ban smoking in the home. METHODS: Compared with 136 usual-care controls, 128 intervention-group parents recruited from South Australian pediatric hospital outpatient waiting rooms were given written and verbal feedback about their 1- to 11-year-old child's urinary cotinine-to-creatinine level, information booklets, and two telephone calls encouraging a ban on smoking at home. RESULTS: At 6 months, 49.2% of the intervention group reported having banned smoking in the home compared with 41.9% of controls, but the differential rate of change from baseline was not significant (P = 0.40). At follow-up, there were no significant differences between groups in the percentage reporting bans on smoking in the car, the mean reduction from baseline in total daily consumption or consumption in front of the child, children's urinary cotinine level, or parental smoking cessation. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention did not change parents' propensity to create or maintain bans on smoking in their homes or otherwise change smoking habits to reduce their children's exposure to ETS. More intensive interventions may be required to achieve change among low-income smoker parents of children with asthma.     

Smoking ban policies and their influence on smoking behaviors among current California smokers: A population-based study

ObjectiveTo assess whether smoking ban policies are associated with smoking reduction and quit attempts among California smokers.MethodsData were examined for 1718 current smokers from follow-up telephone interviews conducted in 2011 of persons previously identified as smokers in a representative sample of the adult population of California. Population weighted logistic regressions controlling for demographic and other variables were used to evaluate the association between smoking ban policies (home, work, and town) and changes in tobacco use (past year quit attempt or reduction in smoking rate).ResultsLiving in a home with a total ban was significantly associated with smoking reduction (adjusted odds ratio, AOR: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.4–4.2) and making a quit attempt (AOR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.3–3.9) compared to living in a home with no home ban. Self-reported perception of an outdoor ban in one's city/town was associated with smoking reduction (AOR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.02–2.7) and making a quit attempt (AOR: 1.8, 95% CI: 1.05–2.9).ConclusionThese results indicate that smoking bans not only protect nonsmokers from the harms of secondhand smoke, but are also associated with smoking reduction and cessation.     

Changes in smoking among restaurant and bar employees following Norway's comprehensive smoking ban

Norway implemented a nationwide ban on indoor smoking in June 2004. This study documents the smoking patterns of Norway's restaurant and bar workers before and after the ban, to determine changes in smoking prevalence and explore which individual and environmental characteristics were related to cessation. A national sample of food service workers was surveyed by telephone or Internet immediately before the ban and at 4 and 11 months post-implementation. Results showed that between baseline measurement and 4 months post-implementation, there were significant declines in prevalence of daily smoking (-3.6% points, p < 0.005), daily smoking at work (-6.2% points, p < 0.001), number of cigarettes smoked by continuing smokers (-1.55, p < 0.001) and number of cigarettes smoked at work by continuing smokers (-1.63, p < 0.001). No significant changes occurred in any of these variables between 4 and 11 months post-implementation. Logistic regression analysis revealed that only smokers' intentions at baseline to quit within 30 days predicted cessation at both follow-up time points. In addition, cessation at 4 months was predicted by lower daily cigarette consumption at baseline, whereas cessation at 11 months was predicted by baseline attitude toward ETS and exposure to ETS as measured at follow-up. In sum, Norway's smoking ban was accompanied by a reduction in smoking in the period immediately following the ban, and the reduction was maintained almost a year later. The finding that smoking cessation was consistently associated with smokers' intentions to quit within 30 days suggests that motivational and support programs could play a significant role in boosting cessation rates. It is recommended that targeted interventions be used to supplement the benefits of a comprehensive ban to achieve tobacco control objectives.     

Smoking Bans in the Home and Car: Do Those Who Really Need Them Have Them?

Background. This paper addresses the question of whether individuals who are most in need of household and car smoking bans, such as individuals with children living at home or who have many friends who smoke, are the ones who have them.Method. A representative sample of 6985 California adults ages 18 and older participated in telephone interviews.Results. Overall, 76% of adults report having home smoking bans and 66% have car smoking bans. Being a smoker or African American, not having children in the home, having more friends who smoke, and lower household income were associated with lower prevalence of both home and car smoking bans (P < 0.01). In multivariate analyses, nonsmokers were 7.9 (95% CI = 3.56, 17.31) times more likely to have a home smoking ban when none of their friends were smokers compared to when most of their friends were smokers. Among smokers, there was an interaction between having children at home and the proportion of friends who smoke. Only 27 to 55% of smokers had home smoking bans unless most of their friends were smokers, then the odds of having a ban were 6.1 (95% CI = 2.76, 13.68) times higher for smokers with children (67% with home bans) than for smokers without children at home (25% with home bans).Conclusions. Efforts to increase home and car smoking bans for nonsmokers who have friends who smoke and smokers with children living at home are needed.     

The effect of the United Kingdom smoking ban on alcohol spending: Evidence from the Living Costs and Food Survey

The effect of smoking bans on alcohol consumption is unclear, and this is especially true of the differing effect on smokers and non-smokers. This paper uses spending survey data to examine the effect of the United Kingdom smoking bans on alcohol spending. It finds the introduction of a smoking ban decreased alcohol expenditure, specifically in the on-trade (pubs and restaurants) and amongst smoking households. Smoking households are estimated to have reduced their weekly on-premise alcohol expenditure by £1.70 (approximately 15–20%), whilst non-smoking households do not significantly change their expenditure. The smoking ban may therefore have affected on-premise outlets through a reduction in revenue. This study provides further evidence that tobacco policies affect drinking behaviour.     

Cigarette Taxes,Smoking—and Exercise?

This research provides the first in‐depth analysis of the effect that increased cigarette taxes have on exercise behavior. Smoking may diminish the ability to exercise; individuals may also use exercise to compensate for the harmful health effects of smoking or to avoid gaining weight if they cut back. Our conceptual model highlights these and several other avenues for effect and reveals that the predicted effect of cigarette costs on exercise behavior is theoretically ambiguous. To investigate the relationship empirically, 1994–2012 data from the behavioral risk factor surveillance system are combined with state level cigarette tax rates and other state level variables. Several measures of both smoking and exercise behavior are created and estimated in reduced form models. Our results suggest that both smoking and exercise are reduced by cigarette taxes. However, the effects on exercise may be more complicated as we find that certain groups, such as young adults or those who have recently quit smoking, are affected differently. Our analyses also show that the responsiveness of both smoking and exercise behavior to cigarette costs is much smaller in the 2000s, an era of high‐tax increases. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Home smoking restrictions. Problems in classification

BACKGROUND: Evidence of the effectiveness of smoking restrictions in workplaces and other public places is creating awareness of the role of bans in private spaces. The purpose of this study was to examine who is affected by strict home smoking bans at the household level. METHODS: Using the 1998/1999 Tobacco Use Supplement to the U.S. Current Population Survey, we examined the characteristics of 43,613 households with two or more adults who responded to the home ban question. Analyses were conducted in 2003-2004. RESULTS: An estimated 12% of sample households provided inconsistent reports about home smoking bans. Multimember households with smokers were substantially less likely to consistently report strict home bans. Discrepancies vary systematically by smoking behavior, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity. Children living with smokers are especially at risk of inconsistent adult reports. CONCLUSIONS: Analyses should not rely on individual reports of home bans, especially in households with smokers and children. Policies should be directed toward educating members of households with smokers and children about the importance of household bans.     

The health effects of smoking bans: Evidence from German hospitalization data

This paper studies the short‐term impact of public smoking bans on hospitalizations in Germany. It exploits the staggered implementation of smoking bans over time and across the 16 federal states along with the universe of hospitalizations from 2000 to 2008 and daily county‐level weather and pollution data. Smoking bans in bars and restaurants have been effective in preventing 1.9 hospital admissions (?2.1%) due to cardiovascular diseases per day, per 1 million population. We also find a decrease by 0.5 admissions (?6.5%) due to asthma per day, per 1 million population. The health prevention effects are more pronounced on sunny days and days with higher ambient pollution levels.     

Household smoking bans and adolescents' perceived prevalence of smoking and social acceptability of smoking

OBJECTIVES: Household smoking bans might decrease the visibility of cigarette smoking and communicate nonsmoking social norms and parental attitudes to youths, which may serve as mediators to reduce smoking initiation. Whether they have these effects even if parents smoke or do not otherwise communicate strong disapproval of smoking to their children is not clear. We tested these hypotheses in multi-level analyses. METHODS: A telephone survey of a random sample of 3831 Massachusetts adolescents (12-17 years) assessed respondents' perceptions of smoking prevalence and attitudes about the social acceptability of smoking in their community. The association of these outcomes with the presence of a smoking ban in the youths' home was tested in multivariate analyses that adjusted for town-level clustering and individual and environmental characteristics. RESULTS: A household smoking ban was reported by 71% of all youths and 49% of youths who lived with smokers. In multivariate models, youths who had a household smoking ban were more likely to perceive a lower adult smoking prevalence (OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.7-2.5; P < 0.001), greater adult disapproval of adult smoking (OR 2.0; 1.5-2.6; P < 0.001) and of teen smoking (OR 1.5; 95% CI 1.2-1.9; P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Among adolescents, a household smoking ban was associated with a lower perceived prevalence of adult smoking in their communities and more negative attitudes about the social acceptability of smoking, two factors that affect the likelihood of smoking initiation. Household smoking bans had these effects even in the presence of two parental factors known to encourage adolescent smoking initiation (parental smoking and lack of perceived parental disapproval of youth tobacco use). This provides an additional rationale for promoting household smoking bans to parents.     

Changes in smoking behaviour after a total workplace smoking ban

This paper reports data on changes in smoking behaviour after the introduction of a total workplace smoking ban in Telecom Australia. A sample of 1089 Telecom staff were surveyed in the months before the introduction of the ban and 620 were resurveyed six months after the ban had been implemented. A further sample of 1424 was drawn from the same parts of the organisation 18 months after implementation. Among the smokers in these samples, the bans produced a reduction in workday cigarette consumption of between three and four cigarettes a day and this reduction was maintained at 18 months. Over the two-year period from six months before the ban to 18 months after it, smoking prevalence dropped about 5 per cent, which we estimate is about twice the decline found in the general community. Workplace smoking bans can produce public health and can assist individual smokers to regulate their habit.