The Effects of Smoking Bans on Self‐Assessed Health: Evidence from Germany

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractThe 16 German federal states introduced smoking bans on different dates during 2007 and 2008. These bans restricted smoking in enclosed public places, particularly in restaurants and bars. This study examines the effects of smoking bans on self-assessed health. Using data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), difference-in-differences estimations provide evidence for health improvements for the population at large. Health benefits from the secondhand smokefree environment are equivalent to an increase in household income of approximately 30%. Further subgroup analyses show that health improvements are largest among young non-smokers (below 30 years) whereas smokers report no or even adverse health effects in response to bans. Exploiting differences in the dates of introduction and enforcement, we find no evidence that the effects of bans depend on enforcement measures.

The impact of public smoking bans on well‐being externalities: Evidence from a policy experiment

“…A large body of empirical research has analysed the impact of anti-tobacco policies. These studies mainly focus on the effects of tobacco control interventions on passive smoking (Farrelly et al, 2005;Pearson et al, 2009); self-assessed health (Wildman and Hollingsworth, 2013;Kuehnle and Wunder, 2017); specific health conditions such as pulmonary disease (Menzies et al, 2006;Goodman et al, 2007) and myocardial infarction (Sargent et al, 2004;Seo and Torabi, 2007); as well as active smoking (cigarette consumption) (Anger et al, 2011;Jones et al, 2013). 1 Overall, these suggest that smoking bans appear to reduce both exposure to SHS and the incidence of acute myocardial infarction, while also increasing general self-assessed health among non-smokers.…”

A breath of fresh air: The effect of public smoking bans on Indigenous youth

“…In addition to smoking and second‐hand exposure, there is evidence that public bans improve self‐assessed health among non‐smoking adults, with larger gains for women (Kuehnle & Wunder, 2017; Wildman & Hollingsworth, 2013). They also improve subjective well‐being among married women with children (Yang & Zucchelli, 2018) and smokers (Brodeur, 2013; Odermatt & Stutzer, 2015).…”

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

“…Note that our econometric models include month-year fixed effects that net out common time effects among all German states. More detailed information on the smoke-free legislation in Germany can be found in Anger et al (2011), Brüderl andLudwig (2011), and Kuehnle and Wunder (2017). In particular, Anger et al (2011) examine whether the timing of the implementation of the smoke-free German legislation is associated with various pre-ban characteristics at the state level.…”

“…Whereas some studies find a reduction in tobacco consumption following smoke‐free laws (e.g., Evans, Farrelly, & Montgomery, , for the United States and workplace smoking bans), others report no or only very small changes (Adda & Cornaglia, , for the United States; Anger, Kvasnicka, & Siedler, , for Germany; Carpenter, Postolek, & Warman, , for Canada; Jones, Laporte, Rice, & Zucchelli, , for the United Kingdom). Kuehnle and Wunder () report improvements in self‐assessed health among nonsmokers following the introduction of smoking bans in Germany, but no effects among smokers. Exploiting variation over time and 40 European countries, Odermatt and Stutzer () find that smoking bans increase the happiness of smokers who would like to quit.…”