The Effect of Comprehensive Smoking Bans in European Workplaces

34 Pages Posted: 1 Nov 2010

See all articles by Federica Origo

Federica Origo

University of Bergamo

Claudio Lucifora

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano ; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Abstract

In recent years many countries of the European Union (EU) have implemented comprehensive smoking bans to reduce exposure to tobacco smoke in public places and all indoor workplaces. Despite the intense public debate, research on the impact of smoking regulation on health, particularly within the workplace, is still very limited. In this paper, we use a Diff-in-Diff approach and comparable micro-data – for a large number of European countries – to evaluate the impact of national comprehensive smoking bans on both perceived workers' health and presence of respiratory problems within workplaces. Results show that the introduction of comprehensive smoking bans has a significant effect on workers' perceived health, particularly on the probability of exposure to smoke and fumes, also controlling for risk exposure. We also highlight some unintended effects of smoking bans in terms of mental distress, which counteract the positive impact on risk exposure and physical health. The impact across countries is shown to vary with the degree of strictness of the bans.

Keywords: smoking bans, workers health, difference-in-differences

JEL Classification: I18, J28

Suggested Citation

Origo, Federica and Lucifora, Claudio, The Effect of Comprehensive Smoking Bans in European Workplaces. IZA Discussion Paper No. 5290, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1700459 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1700459

Federica Origo (Contact Author)

University of Bergamo ( email )

Via Salvecchio, 19
Bergamo, 24129
Italy

Claudio Lucifora

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano ( email )

Department of Economics and Finance
Largo Gemelli, 1
20123 Milano
Italy
+39 027 234 2525 (Phone)
+39 027 234 2781 (Fax)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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