IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ehbiol/v38y2020ics1570677x20301696.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The interaction between personality and health policy: Empirical evidence from the UK smoking bans

Author

Listed:
  • Josten, Cecily
  • Lordan, Grace

Abstract

We investigate whether responses to the UK public places smoking ban depend on personality. Drawing on individual level panel data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) we exploit variation in the timing and location of these bans to establish their overall effect on smoking outcomes, and how this differs by personality. We measure personality using the Big Five personality traits. We are particularly interested in conscientiousness, given the evidence that it is a good proxy for self-control. Overall, we find that a one standard deviation increase in conscientiousness leads to a 1.4 percentage point reduction in the probability of smoking after the ban. Notably, this is the only Big Five personality trait that interacts with the smoking ban. This finding is very robust to different specifications.

Suggested Citation

  • Josten, Cecily & Lordan, Grace, 2020. "The interaction between personality and health policy: Empirical evidence from the UK smoking bans," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:38:y:2020:i:c:s1570677x20301696
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2020.100899
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X20301696
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ehb.2020.100899?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Ameriks & Andrew Caplin & John Leahy & Tom Tyler, 2007. "Measuring Self-Control Problems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(3), pages 966-972, June.
    2. Buddelmeyer, Hielke & Wilkins, Roger, 2005. "The Effects of Smoking Ban Regulations on Individual Smoking Rates," IZA Discussion Papers 1737, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Lara Tavares, 2008. "Who delays childbearing? The relationships between fertility, education and personality traits," Working Papers 009, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.
    4. Matthew Rabin & Ted O'Donoghue, 1999. "Doing It Now or Later," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 103-124, March.
    5. Richter, David & Körtner, John L. & Saßenroth, Denise, 2014. "Personality Has Minor Effects on Panel Attrition," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 53, pages 31-35.
    6. Jones, A & Laporte, A & Rice, N & Zucchelli, E, 2011. "A model of the impact of smoking bans on smoking with evidence from bans in England and Scotland," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 11/05, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    7. Anger, Silke & Kvasnicka, Michael & Siedler, Thomas, 2011. "One Last Puff? Public Smoking Bans and Smoking Behavior," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 591-601.
    8. Heckman, James J. & Kautz, Tim, 2012. "Hard evidence on soft skills," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 451-464.
    9. Grace Lordan & Alistair McGuire, 2019. "Healthy Minds: the positive impact of a new school curriculum," CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance 558, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    10. Timothy Hinks & Andreas Katsaros, 2012. "Smoking Ban and Life Satisfaction: Evidence from the UK," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 17(1), pages 27-48, March.
    11. Charles A.M. de Bartolome & Ian J. Irvine, 2010. "The Economics of Smoking Bans," Working Papers 201027, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    12. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Schurer, Stefanie, 2012. "The stability of big-five personality traits," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 11-15.
    13. Hille, Adrian & Schupp, Jürgen, 2015. "How Learning a Musical Instrument Affects the Development of Skills," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 44, pages 56-82.
    14. Jonathan Gruber & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2006. "Do Cigarette Taxes Make Smokers Happier?," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Yew-Kwang Ng & Lok Sang Ho (ed.), Happiness and Public Policy, chapter 6, pages 109-146, Palgrave Macmillan.
    15. B. Douglas Bernheim & Antonio Rangel, 2004. "Addiction and Cue-Triggered Decision Processes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1558-1590, December.
    16. Di Novi, Cinzia & Marenzi, Anna, 2019. "The smoking epidemic across generations, genders, and educational groups: A matter of diffusion of innovations," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 155-168.
    17. Daniel Kuehnle & Christoph Wunder, 2017. "The Effects of Smoking Bans on Self‐Assessed Health: Evidence from Germany," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 321-337, March.
    18. Vidar Christiansen & Stephen Smith, 2012. "Externality‐Correcting Taxes and Regulation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(2), pages 358-383, June.
    19. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Kassenboehmer, Sonja C. & Schurer, Stefanie, 2014. "Healthy habits: The connection between diet, exercise, and locus of control," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 1-28.
    20. Almlund, Mathilde & Duckworth, Angela Lee & Heckman, James & Kautz, Tim, 2011. "Personality Psychology and Economics," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 1-181, Elsevier.
    21. Henrik Hammar & Fredrik Carlsson, 2005. "Smokers' expectations to quit smoking," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(3), pages 257-267, March.
    22. Clément de Chaisemartin & Pierre‐Yves Geoffard & Anne‐Laurence le Faou, 2011. "Workplace smoking ban effects on unhappy smokers," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(9), pages 1043-1055, September.
    23. Uysal, Selver Derya & Pohlmeier, Winfried, 2011. "Unemployment duration and personality," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 980-992.
    24. Hargreaves, Katrina & Amos, Amanda & Highet, Gill & Martin, Claudia & Platt, Stephen & Ritchie, Deborah & White, Martin, 2010. "The social context of change in tobacco consumption following the introduction of 'smokefree' England legislation: A qualitative, longitudinal study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 459-466, August.
    25. D. Dragone & F. Manaresi & L. Savorelli, 2013. "Tobacco Taxes and Smoking Bans Impact Differently on Obesity and Eating Habits," Working Papers wp878, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    26. Heineck, Guido & Anger, Silke, 2010. "The returns to cognitive abilities and personality traits in Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 535-546, June.
    27. James J. Heckman & Tim Kautz, 2013. "Fostering and Measuring Skills: Interventions That Improve Character and Cognition," NBER Working Papers 19656, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. James J. Heckman, 2007. "The Economics, Technology and Neuroscience of Human Capability Formation," NBER Working Papers 13195, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Wildman, John & Hollingsworth, Bruce, 2013. "Public smoking bans and self-assessed health: Evidence from Great Britain," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 209-212.
    30. Stefan Boes & Joachim Marti & Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2015. "The Impact of Smoking Bans on Smoking and Consumer Behavior: Quasi‐Experimental Evidence from Switzerland," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(11), pages 1502-1516, November.
    31. Andrew Leicester & Peter Levell, 2016. "Anti‐Smoking Policies and Smoker Well‐Being: Evidence from Britain," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 37, pages 224-257, June.
    32. Celidoni, Martina & Pieroni, Luca & Salmasi, Luca, 2014. "Side-effects of anti-smoking policies on health behaviors. Evidence from the US," MPRA Paper 58312, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    33. Lex Borghans & Bart H. H. Golsteyn & James J. Heckman & Huub Meijers, 2009. "Gender Differences in Risk Aversion and Ambiguity Aversion," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(2-3), pages 649-658, 04-05.
    34. Lee Cronbach, 1951. "Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 16(3), pages 297-334, September.
    35. Buonanno, Paolo & Ranzani, Marco, 2013. "Thank you for not smoking: Evidence from the Italian smoking ban," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 192-199.
    36. Odermatt, Reto & Stutzer, Alois, 2015. "Smoking bans, cigarette prices and life satisfaction," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 176-194.
    37. Chaloupka, Frank J. & Warner, Kenneth E., 2000. "The economics of smoking," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 29, pages 1539-1627, Elsevier.
    38. Chih‐Sheng Hsieh & Hans van Kippersluis, 2018. "Smoking initiation: Peers and personality," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(2), pages 825-863, July.
    39. Cuesta, Maite Blázquez & Budría, Santiago, 2015. "Income deprivation and mental well-being: The role of non-cognitive skills," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 16-28.
    40. Lex Borghans & Bart H.H. Golsteyn & James J. Heckman & Huub Meijers, 2009. "Gender Differences in Risk Aversion and Ambiguity," Working Papers 200903, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    41. Hajdu, Tamás & Hajdu, Gábor, 2018. "Smoking ban and health at birth: Evidence from Hungary," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 37-47.
    42. Jason M. Fletcher & Partha Deb & Jody L. Sindelar, 2009. "Tobacco Use, Taxation and Self Control in Adolescence," NBER Working Papers 15130, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cornelia Chadi, 2022. "Smoking Bans, Leisure Time and Subjective Well-being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 3765-3797, December.
    2. Odermatt, Reto & Stutzer, Alois, 2015. "Smoking bans, cigarette prices and life satisfaction," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 176-194.
    3. Andrew Leicester & Peter Levell, 2016. "Anti‐Smoking Policies and Smoker Well‐Being: Evidence from Britain," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 37, pages 224-257, June.
    4. LEE SunYoun & OHTAKE Fumio, 2014. "The Effects of Personality Traits and Behavioral Characteristics on Schooling, Earnings, and Career Promotion," Discussion papers 14023, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    5. Abel Brodeur, 2012. "Smoking, Income and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Smoking Bans," Working Papers halshs-00664269, HAL.
    6. Chih‐Sheng Hsieh & Hans van Kippersluis, 2018. "Smoking initiation: Peers and personality," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(2), pages 825-863, July.
    7. Deborah Cobb-Clark, 2015. "Locus of control and the labor market," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-19, December.
    8. Lee, Sun Youn & Ohtake, Fumio, 2018. "Is being agreeable a key to success or failure in the labor market?," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 8-27.
    9. Pannenberg, Markus & Friehe, Tim & Wedow, Michael, 2015. "Let Bygones be Bygones? Political Regimes and Personalities in Germany," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112841, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    10. Miaoqing Yang & Eugenio Zucchelli, 2018. "The impact of public smoking bans on well‐being externalities: Evidence from a policy experiment," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(3), pages 224-247, July.
    11. Tim Friehe & Markus Pannenberg & Michael Wedow, 2015. "Let Bygones Be Bygones? Socialist Regimes and Personalities in Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 776, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Pons Rotger, Gabriel & Rosholm, Michael, 2020. "The Role of Beliefs in Long Sickness Absence: Experimental Evidence from a Psychological Intervention," IZA Discussion Papers 13582, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Brown, Sarah & Taylor, Karl, 2014. "Household finances and the ‘Big Five’ personality traits," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 197-212.
    14. Poutvaara, Panu & Siemers, Lars-H. R., 2008. "Smoking and social interaction," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1503-1515, December.
    15. Cubel, Maria & Nuevo-Chiquero, Ana & Sanchez-Pages, Santiago & Vidal-Fernandez, Marian, 2014. "Do Personality Traits Affect Productivity? Evidence from the Lab," IZA Discussion Papers 8308, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Gensowski, Miriam & Gørtz, Mette & Schurer, Stefanie, 2021. "Inequality in personality over the life cycle," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 46-77.
    17. Maria Cubel & Ana Nuevo‐Chiquero & Santiago Sanchez‐Pages & Marian Vidal‐Fernandez, 2016. "Do Personality Traits Affect Productivity? Evidence from the Laboratory," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(592), pages 654-681, May.
    18. Miaoqing Yang & Eugenio Zucchelli, 2015. "The impact of public smoking bans on well-being externalities: evidence from a natural experiment," Working Papers 85310008, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    19. Kamila Cygan-Rehm, 2022. "Lifetime Consequences of Lost Instructional Time in the Classroom: Evidence from Shortened School Years," CESifo Working Paper Series 9892, CESifo.
    20. Odermatt, Reto & Stutzer, Alois, 2017. "Subjective Well-Being and Public Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 11102, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Smoking ban; Personality; Five factor model; Conscientiousness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:38:y:2020:i:c:s1570677x20301696. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622964 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.