Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/185824 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
WWZ Working Paper No. 2018/24
Publisher: 
University of Basel, Center of Business and Economics (WWZ), Basel
Abstract: 
In many European countries, there is an unmissable trend towards stricter tobacco control policies and a parallel reduction in the prevalence of smoking. The extent to which policies promote this latter trend, however, is less clear. We therefore analyze the staggered introductions of smoking bans and the variation in cigarette taxes over more than twenty years. After taking into account unobserved country- and time-specfiic effects as well as country-specific trends, we find no clear evidence that smoking bans are associated with lower levels of smoking. In contrast, higher cigarette prices tend to be negatively related to smoking, in particular for men and people under the age of 30. However, price elasticities are small. Overall, the results suggest that only about one sixth of the decline in the prevalence of smoking in Europe can be explained by our policy variables.
Subjects: 
smoking bans
cigarette taxes
smoking behavior
tobacco control policies
JEL: 
D12
H31
I18
K32
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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