Working Paper: NBER ID: w14790
Authors: Kanaka D. Shetty; Thomas DeLeire; Chapin White; Jayanta Bhattacharya
Abstract: U.S. state and local governments are increasingly restricting smoking in public places. This paper analyzes nationally representative databases, including the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, to compare short-term changes in mortality and hospitalization rates in smoking-restricted regions with control regions. In contrast with smaller regional studies, we find that workplace bans are not associated with statistically significant short-term declines in mortality or hospital admissions for myocardial infarction or other diseases. An analysis simulating smaller studies using subsamples reveals that large short-term increases in myocardial infarction incidence following a workplace ban are as common as the large decreases reported in the published literature.
Keywords: smoking bans; hospitalization; mortality rates; acute myocardial infarction
JEL Codes: I18; I12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Smoking restrictions (L66) | Mortality reduction (I14) |
| Smoking restrictions (L66) | Hospitalization rates (I11) |
| Smoking bans (L66) | Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) admissions (I11) |
| Smoking restrictions (L66) | All-cause mortality among the elderly (I12) |
| Smoking bans (L66) | AMI incidence (C22) |
| Implementation dates of smoking bans (Y10) | Causal effects on health outcomes (I12) |