British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
14TH BRITISH ACADEMY POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP SYMPOSIUM
Abstract
Public Policy and Passive Smoking
Dr Francesca Cornaglia
This work evaluates the effect of smoking bans in public places on the exposure to tobacco smoke of non-smokers and contrasts it with the effect of excise taxes.
Exploiting data on cotinine - a metabolite of nicotine - as well as state and time variation in anti-smoking policies across US states, we show that smoking bans in public places can perversely increase the exposure of non-smokers to tobacco smoke by displacing smokers to private places where they contaminate non smokers, and in particular young children.
In contrast, we find that higher taxes are an efficient way to decrease exposure to tobacco smoke, especially in those most exposed.
Francesca Cornaglia is currently a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, at the Department of Economics, Queen Mary University of London. Her main interests are in health economics, applied micro-econometrics, and labour economics (wage structures, wage mobility). After completing her first degree, BSc Hons in European Business with Technology at Brighton University in 1993, she obtained a Diploma in "Esperto della Produzione Industriale" at Turin Polytechnic. She worked for Pirelli Ltd, Carlisle, UK as Industrial Engineer and as Information Officer at Confindustria, Torino. In 1994 she continued her studies in Economics at the University of Turin, where she received her degree (Laurea in Scienze Politiche, specialization in Economics) with distinction in 1999. She also received a Master in Economics at Coripe Piemonte on 1998. In 2005 she received her PhD in Economics from the University of Turin. She holds a researcher position at CEP – Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.