Smoking, Income and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Smoking Bans

Pre-print, Working paper: This paper provides estimates of the effects of smoking policies on self-reported well-being using US county-level data. Because the bans were implemented at different times, it is possible to exploit these variations to identify the effect on a broad range of outcomes like self-reported well-being. The impact of smoking bans is estimated on those likely to be smokers relatively to others in order to take into account the effect on former, potential and current smokers. Our estimates suggest that the implementation of smoking bans make those who are predicted to be smokers more satisfied with their life. Within-family externalities and time-inconsistent family-utility maximization explain these findings. Additionally, there is evidence that the largest effect of smoking bans is for parents and married couples where the spouse is predicted to smoke.

Author(s)

Abel Brodeur

Date of publication
  • 2012
Keywords JEL
D62 H51 I18 I38
Keywords
  • Smoking policies
  • Subjective well-being
  • Social interactions
  • Behavior
Internal reference
  • PSE Working Papers n°2012-03
Version
  • 1