The Impacts of Smoking Bans on Smoking in Korea

Abstract

There is a growing concern about potential harmful effect of second-hand or environmental tobacco smoke. As a result, smoking bans in workplace become more prevalent. In Korea, workplace smoking ban policy become more restrictive in 2003 when National health enhancing law was changed. Using Korea National Health and Nutrition survey in 2001 and 2005 we examine the impacts of law change on current smoker and cigarettes smoked per day. We compare indoor working occupations which are constrained by the law change and ourdoor working occupations which are less impacted. The estimated impacts on current smoker is 4.6 percentage point decline and cigarettes per day show statistically significant decline of 1.1.