From U Toronto: Do smoke-free car laws work? Evidence from a quasi-experiment

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23202259

J Health Econ. 2013 Jan;32(1):138-48. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2012.10.003. Epub 2012 Oct 24.

Do smoke-free car laws work? Evidence from a quasi-experiment.

Nguyen HV.

Source

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, 144 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3M2, Canada. vanhai.nguyen@utoronto.ca

Abstract

In response to increased risks of second-hand smoke exposure for children travelling in cars and its resulting deleterious health impacts, several jurisdictions passed legislation that bans smoking in private vehicles when children are present. In this study, I exploit a unique quasi-experiment from Canada and employ the difference-in-differences and triple-differences techniques to empirically evaluate this legislation. I find that the legislation reduces exposure to second-hand smoke inside cars for children. Further, there appears no marked increase in smoking at home after the implementation of the legislation.