Department of Health Policy and Management, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC.
Center for Health Policy Science and Tobacco Research, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC.
Nicotine Tob Res. 2019 Mar 30;21(4):547-550. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntx280.
Secondhand smoke exposure is responsible for an estimated 50000 deaths per year among nonsmokers in the United States. Smoke-free air laws reduce secondhand smoke exposure but often encounter opposition over concerns about their economic impact. Expansion of these laws has stagnated and efforts to weaken existing laws may exacerbate existing disparities in exposure. Studies at the state and local levels have found that smoke-free air laws do not generally have an adverse effect, but there are no recent estimates of the impact of these laws nationally.
Employment and sales are two measures commonly used to estimate the economic impact of smoke-free air laws. Sales data are gathered by state and local taxing authorities but not uniformly across jurisdictions. Dynamic panel models are used to estimate a population-weighted national average treatment effect of smoke-free air laws on restaurant and bar employment using data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for 1990 to 2015.
A one-percentage point increase in population covered by a restaurant smoke-free air law is associated with a small increase (approximately 0.01%) in restaurant employment (b = .0001, p < .001). The percentage of state population covered by a bar smoke-free air law was not associated with bar employment.
Smoke-free air laws are a powerful tool for protecting hospitality workers and patrons from the dangers of secondhand smoke. Using data from over more than two decades, these results suggest that smoke-free air laws in the United States do not generally have any meaningful effect on restaurant and bar employment.
Smoke-free air laws are associated with reductions in negative health outcomes and decreased smoking prevalence. Despite this clear public health argument and strong public support, passage of new laws has stagnated and exemptions are being used to weaken existing laws. The ability to make both a health and business case in support of existing laws may also bolster the case for expansion. This study provides an updated look at the economic impact of smoke-free air laws nationally through 2015. The lack of adverse findings provides additional support for these laws as public health win-win.
在美国，二手烟暴露导致每年约 5 万名不吸烟者死亡。无烟空气法减少了二手烟暴露，但经常因担心其经济影响而遭到反对。这些法律的扩张已经停滞不前，削弱现有法律的努力可能会加剧现有的暴露差距。州和地方一级的研究发现，无烟空气法一般不会产生不利影响，但没有关于这些法律在全国范围内的最新影响估计。
就业和销售额是常用于估计无烟空气法经济影响的两个指标。销售额数据由州和地方税务当局收集，但在司法管辖区内并不统一。使用 1990 年至 2015 年季度就业和工资普查数据，采用动态面板模型估计无烟空气法对餐厅和酒吧就业的全国平均人群治疗效果，该模型对人口加权。
餐厅无烟空气法覆盖的人口增加一个百分点，餐厅就业就会略有增加（约 0.01%）（b=0.0001，p<0.001）。酒吧无烟空气法覆盖的州人口比例与酒吧就业无关。
无烟空气法是保护酒店业工人和顾客免受二手烟危害的有力工具。利用超过二十多年的数据，这些结果表明，美国的无烟空气法一般不会对餐厅和酒吧的就业产生任何有意义的影响。
无烟空气法与降低负面健康结果和降低吸烟率有关。尽管有明确的公共卫生论据和强烈的公众支持，但新法律的通过已经停滞不前，豁免正在被用来削弱现有法律。支持现有法律的健康和商业论据的能力也可能增强扩大这些法律的理由。本研究通过 2015 年的数据，对全国无烟空气法的经济影响进行了最新的分析。没有不利的发现为这些法律作为公共卫生双赢提供了额外的支持。
