The impact of smoke-free workplace policies on smoking behaviour in Japan

Abstract

The aim of this study is to quantify the effect of a smoke-free workplace policy on smoking decision, smokers’ cigarette consumption, and smoking cessation. The data used in the analysis were gathered from the original Japanese household surveys of 2001. A two-part model was estimated for all workers during the survey period and probit model and difference-in-differences for smokers at workplaces without the smoke-free policy at the time of hiring. The results suggest that total smoking prohibition or a separation of smoking areas reduces smoking prevalence and smokers’ cigarette consumption and causes smokers to quit smoking.

Acknowledgements

Financial assistance was provided by the JSPS Research Fellowships for Young Scientists.

Notes

¹ For the analysis on public health, see the meta-analysis of Fichtenberg and Glantz (2002).

² Generally, a two-step estimation and a two-part model are appropriate for the estimation of the smoking decision and cigarette consumption of smokers. In the two-step estimation, the inverse Mill's ratio was not significant; hence, the two-part model was adopted.

³ The number of cigarettes consumed during the survey period was newly estimated based on significant explanatory variables alone, except for the dummy variable representing the smoke-free policy in the previous two-part model. The equation is given by # of cigarettes = −5.6563(−1.13) + 5.5946(4.76)D_MALE + 0.9592(3.92)AGE − 0.0101(−3.59)AGE2− 3.3156(−3.18)D_SCALEL. n = 541 Adjusted R ² = 0.0862 Numbers in parentheses are t-statistics.