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This dissertation consists of three chapters on questions in Environmental Economics, addressing policy and health issues in indoor and outdoor environments. In the first chapter, I explores price and quantity policy solutions to externalities that arise from private decisions made over time, focusing on resource extraction as a specific example. In the U.S., mining causes more pollution than any other single industry. I show how tax policy can optimally address a flow externality associated with resource extraction when the policymaker faces asymmetric information in the short run. Chapter 2 investigates whether ordinary exposure to a common indoor air pollutant—Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂)—affects respiratory health. About 40 percent of occupied homes in the U.S. use gas stoves for cooking, which produce NO₂ as a byproduct of combustion (US Census, 2006), and peak concentrations in homes may reach above 900 ppb when a gas stove is used for cooking (Dennekamp et al., 2001). Permanent or fatal lung damage occurs at NO₂ concentrations greater than 1000 ppb (Samet and Utell, 1990). Previous studies find mixed evidence of negative effects from indoor NO₂ (Basu and Samet, 1999), but exposure may be endogenous in these analyses. I address this problem by developing a physical model of indoor NO₂ concentrations that depends on ventilation decisions and housing characteristics and estimate it using data from the third wave of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. In every model I consider, I find no significant effects of gas stoves on respiratory outcomes. In the final chapter, I combine data on state and local tobacco control ordinances from Americans for Non-smokers Rights Tobacco US Tobacco Control Laws Database with a sample of 35 million births in the U.S. to examine the impact of smoking bans on birth weight and related outcomes. Using difference-in-difference techniques, I identify the effects of state bans net of local bans, as well as the effects of local bans net of state bans. The results suggest less restrictive bans do more to improve birth outcomes than “100% smokefree” bans do, particularly in urban settings. / text

Background Smoking prevalence is the highest in people with mental illness. As more and more countries develop governmental regulations to protect employees from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, complete smoking bans or partial smoking bans have been introduced in many psychiatric hospitals. Objectives To systematically review the literature to examine the impact of smoking bans in psychiatric hospitals, to identify the obstacles to implement tobacco-free policy and provide recommendations for policy-making in Mainland China on implementing tobacco-free policy in psychiatric hospitals. Methods Multiple searches for key words were conducted through electronic sources including PubMed, Medline, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and CNKI database for all relevant English language and Chinese language articles. The PICO (patient problem or population, intervention, comparison and outcomes) indicators were used as basic inclusion/exclusion criteria, data extraction and quality assessment. Results A total of 227 studies were identified (188 English language articles including 4 reviews and 39 Chinese language articles), and 25 articles (19 English articles and 5 Chinese articles) were included in this paper. For the English language studies, psychiatric inpatients generally had positive attitudes towards the tobacco-free policy in psychiatric hospitals and increasing number of inpatients wanted to quit smoking after hospitalized in a tobacco-free psychiatric hospital. Increasing number of staff members working in psychiatric hospitals were supportive of the tobacco-free policy compared to previous reviews. No change in patients’ aggressive behaviors after implementing smoking bans in the psychiatric hospitals was observed in most studies. Factors identified for successful implementation of tobacco-free policy in psychiatric hospitals included comprehensive planning time, good leadership and significant attitudinal and system changes, high level and consistency of staff support and cohesive teamwork, extensive training for staff and effective use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). For the Chinese language studies, negative outcomes of psychiatric inpatients were observed after a total smoking ban in one psychiatric hospital, but positive effects were observed when only the smoking amount was controlled in four psychiatric hospitals. Conclusions The tobacco-free policy aims at eliminating tobacco smoking for both staff members and patients in psychiatric hospitals so as to create a healthy place for work and stay. This goal can be achieved with the efforts of the hospitals and staff, and the cooperation of patients. National legislation to ban smoking in all hospitals, indoor and outdoor, are urgently needed in China Mainland. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

Within the last few decades, the prevalence of cigarette smoking has decreased because of the vast amount of research which indicates that smoking leads to health problems many of which are potentially fatal. Also, smoking harms not only those whom choose to smoke but non-smokers in the area are affected by even low levels of cigarette smoke. Thus, cigarette smoking has become a public health concern. Around the globe, countries are passing smoke-free laws in public areas such as businesses, restaurants, and bars. In the United States, many universities have enacted smoke-free campus policies to ensure the health of all their students in all places on campus. The purpose of this research is to identify the support or opposition for a smoke-free campus policy at the University of Central Florida by UCF students. A survey was distributed to undergraduate students at UCF which asks whether they would support such a policy along with characterizing questions about their smoking habits, lifestyle, history, and opinion. The analysis of the data shows that the majority of UCF student would support a smoke-free campus policy.

Approximately 135,000 Brazilians die from smoking-related diseases every year (ERIKSEN et al., 2015). Due to the relevance of smoking as a public health problem, some states and municipalities implemented restrictive smoke-free environments from 2008 onwards. The national regulation became effective only in 2014. In this paper we explore the regional differences in the adoption of this policy to evaluate its impacts on cigarette consumption in Brazil. We propose a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the effects throughout the years on the smoking behavior of two age groups: adults and youths. We also estimate the impacts according to different levels of enforcement among states. We have built our panel using micro data from the National Health Research, collected by the Brazilian Bureau of Statistics (IBGE) in 2013. Our results indicate that smoking bans reduced daily cigarette consumption among young individuals in 7% on average, by reducing smoking initiation. This impact increases to 10% when considering higher enforced smoking bans and vanishes when the law is not enforced. In absolute values, it represents from 64 to 80 thousand less smokers among young individuals in the treated capitals. No impacts were found on smoking initiation and on smoking prevalence among adults, but high enforced smoking bans are related to 1.2% smoking cessation rate. Robustness tests show that the results are consistent. Our paper contributes to the literature providing evidences to developing countries on the effects of tobacco control policies / Aproximadamente 135.000 brasileiros morrem por doenças relacionadas ao tabagismo anualmente (ERIKSEN et al., 2015). Devido à relevância do tabagismo como um problema de saúde, alguns estados e municípios adotaram áreas totalmente livres de fumo a partir de 2008. A legislação nacional passou a vigorar apenas a partir de dezembro de 2014. Nesse estudo, exploramos a variação regional da adoção dessa política para avaliar seus impactos no consumo de cigarro no Brasil. Para tanto, adotamos uma abordagem de diferenças-em-diferenças para estimar os efeitos ao longo dos anos de introdução das leis no comportamento de fumantes em dois grupos etários: adultos e jovens. Os impactos também foram estimados considerando diferentes níveis de aplicação das leis entre os estados. Construímos um painel utilizando micro dados da Pesquisa Nacional da Saúde (PNS), coletada pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) em 2013. Os resultados indicam que a criação de áreas livres de fumo reduziu, na média, em 7% o consumo de cigarro entre jovens, e isso ocorreu através do desincentivo à iniciação ao tabagismo. Esse impacto aumenta para 10% quando consideramos leis efetivamente aplicadas e desaparecem quando a aplicação é baixa. Em valores absolutos, esse efeito representa de 64 mil a 80 mil menos fumantes entre jovens nas capitais tratadas. Não foram encontrados efeitos em iniciação ao tabagismo e em consumo de cigarro entre adultos, mas leis fortemente aplicadas estão relacionadas a uma taxa de cessação do fumo de 1,2%. Testes de robustez mostram que os resultados são consistentes. Esse estudo contribui para a literatura sobre os efeitos das políticas de controle do tabagismo ao apresentar evidências para países em desenvolvimento

Approximately 135,000 Brazilians die from smoking-related diseases every year (ERIKSEN et al., 2015). Due to the relevance of smoking as a public health problem, some states and municipalities implemented restrictive smoke-free environments from 2008 onwards. The national regulation became effective only in 2014. In this paper we explore the regional differences in the adoption of this policy to evaluate its impacts on cigarette consumption in Brazil. We propose a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the effects throughout the years on the smoking behavior of two age groups: adults and youths. We also estimate the impacts according to different levels of enforcement among states. We have built our panel using micro data from the National Health Research, collected by the Brazilian Bureau of Statistics (IBGE) in 2013. Our results indicate that smoking bans reduced daily cigarette consumption among young individuals in 7% on average, by reducing smoking initiation. This impact increases to 10% when considering higher enforced smoking bans and vanishes when the law is not enforced. In absolute values, it represents from 64 to 80 thousand less smokers among young individuals in the treated capitals. No impacts were found on smoking initiation and on smoking prevalence among adults, but high enforced smoking bans are related to 1.2% smoking cessation rate. Robustness tests show that the results are consistent. Our paper contributes to the literature providing evidences to developing countries on the effects of tobacco control policies / Aproximadamente 135.000 brasileiros morrem por doenças relacionadas ao tabagismo anualmente (ERIKSEN et al., 2015). Devido à relevância do tabagismo como um problema de saúde, alguns estados e municípios adotaram áreas totalmente livres de fumo a partir de 2008. A legislação nacional passou a vigorar apenas a partir de dezembro de 2014. Nesse estudo, exploramos a variação regional da adoção dessa política para avaliar seus impactos no consumo de cigarro no Brasil. Para tanto, adotamos uma abordagem de diferenças-em-diferenças para estimar os efeitos ao longo dos anos de introdução das leis no comportamento de fumantes em dois grupos etários: adultos e jovens. Os impactos também foram estimados considerando diferentes níveis de aplicação das leis entre os estados. Construímos um painel utilizando micro dados da Pesquisa Nacional da Saúde (PNS), coletada pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) em 2013. Os resultados indicam que a criação de áreas livres de fumo reduziu, na média, em 7% o consumo de cigarro entre jovens, e isso ocorreu através do desincentivo à iniciação ao tabagismo. Esse impacto aumenta para 10% quando consideramos leis efetivamente aplicadas e desaparecem quando a aplicação é baixa. Em valores absolutos, esse efeito representa de 64 mil a 80 mil menos fumantes entre jovens nas capitais tratadas. Não foram encontrados efeitos em iniciação ao tabagismo e em consumo de cigarro entre adultos, mas leis fortemente aplicadas estão relacionadas a uma taxa de cessação do fumo de 1,2%. Testes de robustez mostram que os resultados são consistentes. Esse estudo contribui para a literatura sobre os efeitos das políticas de controle do tabagismo ao apresentar evidências para países em desenvolvimento

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Smoke-free legislation in the United States has unintentionally resulted in a decline in alcohol consumption. However, more recently electronic-cigarettes (e-cigs), which are associated with alcohol use, are reportedly being used to circumvent smoking bans. The present study surveyed community dwelling individuals in the United States reporting e-cigs may be used where they drink (N=365, mean age=33.63, SD=9.91, 53.2% female, 78.9% Caucasian) to examine how e-cig use and alcohol consumption varies by the presence of smoking prohibition where one consumes alcohol. Results indicated that smoking prohibition was associated with a greater likelihood of being an ecig user than a cigarette user (OR=3.40, p<.001) and a higher likelihood of being an e-cig user than a dual user (OR=3.37, p<.001). Smoking prohibition was not associated with AUDIT scores (B=-0.06, p=.21), total drinks (B=-.07, p=.19), or average drinks (B=-0.02, p=.76). E-cig users reported significantly fewer average drinks when smoking is prohibited as compared to allowed, t(55)=3.26, p=.002. Overall, current results suggest smoking prohibition is associated with a greater likelihood of being an e-cig user; however, smoking prohibitions are not associated with alcohol consumption and related problems in the current participants, who all reported being able to use e-cigs where they consume alcohol. Future research should address potential conceptual, methodological, and sample limitations in order to better discern this relationship, as this line of research could have important implications for e-cig policy and alcohol use treatment