More Than a Ban on Smoking? Behavioural Spillovers of Smoking Bans in the Workplace

Abstract

We study the potential behavioural spillover effects of a workplace smoking ban (WSB) on a variety of health-related behaviours as well as on people who are not directly impacted by the bans. Drawing on quasi-experimental evidence comparing employed and unemployed individuals in Russia, we document that individuals who give up smoking are less likely to drink or cut back on alcohol consumption. Furthermore, we show that as expected the WSB exerts an impact on the health behaviours of those who are not directly exposed to the reform, such as never smokers. Finally, the effects of the WSB are driven by changes among men, 60 percent of whom were smoking before the ban.