According to a new NBER study, state clean indoor air laws (SCIALs) reduced the fraction of bartenders who smoke. But SCIALs did not reduce smoking among workers in other venues (private workplaces, government workplaces, schools, or restaurants) covered by such laws.
Researchers concluded,
Overall, the patterns of null findings for all groups of workers except bartenders suggest that any estimated smoking reductions in previous research associated with SCIALs were unlikely to have been brought about by workers? direct exposure to stronger worksite smoking restrictions. Other mechanisms (e.g., unobserved heterogeneity, peer effects, customer effects, or changes in social norms) are more likely to be responsible for the smoking reductions associated with adoption of state clean indoor air laws reported in previous research. Regardless of the exact mechanism, any interpretation that attributes observed smoking reductions to SCIALs requires that the laws actually changed smoking restrictions in that state. Among the venues for which we can identify groups of workers who should have been directly affected, our results suggest this was the case only for SCIALs covering bars. (Emphasis mine)
The Lefties will soon go after Fred and Wilma for smoking Winstons on their property.