Ruhr Economic Papers

RUB, 03/2017, 17 S./p., 8 Euro, ISBN 978-3-86788-786-1 DOI: 10.4419/86788786

Abstract

We estimate the causal impact of school smoking bans in Germany on the propensity and intensity of smoking. Using representative longitudinal data, we use variation in state, year, age cohort, school track, and survey time for implementation of such smoking bans to identify the effects of interest. The estimates from our multiple differences approach show that six to ten years after intervention, propensity towards smoking is reduced by 7-16 percent, while the number of smoked cigarettes per day decreases by 8-13 percent. Our results still hold if we account for the clustered data structure by evaluating the effects with randomization inference.