scholarly journals Impact of US smoke-free air laws on restaurants and bars by employer size: a panel study

BMJ Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. e018137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Shafer

ObjectivesThirty states have smoke-free air laws that ban smoking in restaurants and bars, covering nearly two-thirds of the US population. It is well established that these laws generally have a null or positive economic impact on restaurants and bars. However, all establishments in a geographic area are usually treated as a homogeneous group without considering the potential for differential effects by establishment characteristics. This study uses variation in smoke-free air laws over time to estimate their impact on employment in restaurants and bars with a focus on potential differences by employer size (number of employees). A two-pronged approach with a national-level and state-level analysis is used to take advantage of more granular data availability for a single state (North Carolina).DesignObservational study using panel data.Setting1) US, 2) North CarolinaInterventionsSmoke-free air laws.Outcome measuresState-level accommodation and food services employment for all 50 states and District of Columbia from 1990 through 2014 (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages); county-level restaurant and bar employment in North Carolina from 2001 through 2014 (North Carolina Department of Commerce).ResultsThere is no evidence of a redistributive effect of smoke-free air laws on restaurant and bar employment by employer size.ConclusionThe lack of a redistributive effect is an important finding for policy-makers considering implementation or expansion of a smoke-free air law to protect employees and patrons from the dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke.

Author(s):  
Jon F Oliver

Abstract Introduction Smoke-free air legislation and conventional cigarette taxes have long been used to reduce smoking initiation, prevalence, and conventional cigarette consumption. However, the extent to which these policies affect population health across a range of diagnoses and age groups remains less well understood. Methods Analyses use 2005-2014 hospital inpatient discharge data from up to 40 US states to estimate the effects of smoke-free air laws and conventional cigarette taxes on cardiovascular hospitalizations among working age and older adults. Results An increase in the percent of a county’s population covered by smoke-free air laws yielded a significant decline of 2.4% (RR: 0.976, 95%CI: 0.954, 0.997) in acute cerebrovascular disease hospitalizations among older adults. Moreover, significant declines of 2.0% (RR: 0.980, 95%CI: 0.967, 0.994) and 2.8% (RR: 0.972, 95%CI:0.949, 0.996) in acute cerebrovascular disease were observed among older adults in the first year and subsequent years after smoke-free air legislation was implemented, respectively. Conventional cigarette taxes did not yield a significant change in acute cerebrovascular disease hospitalizations, nor did either tobacco control policy lead to a significant decline in acute myocardial infarction hospitalizations. Conclusions Smoke-free air laws play an important role in reducing adult cardiovascular hospitalizations. These findings confirm existing research on acute cerebrovascular disease outcomes, as well as the modest effects on acute myocardial infarction hospitalizations observed in state- and national-level analyses. Implications Current research at the local level finds smoke-free air laws yield 40% declines in acute myocardial infarction hospitalizations and 29% declines in acute cerebrovascular disease.State- and national-level analyses find smaller effects of smoke-free air laws, and largely omits analyses of working age adults. Existing research likely suffers from omitted variable bias, including state-level tobacco control funding and local-level conventional cigarette taxes. Using adult hospitalization data from up to 40 states, this study confirms existing evidence at the national and state level, and provides new evidence that smoke-free air laws significantly reduce acute cerebrovascular disease hospitalizations among older adults.


2019 ◽  
Vol 118 (12) ◽  
pp. 32-48
Author(s):  
Mr. Arun Gautam ◽  
Dr. Saurabh Sharma ◽  
CA Narendra Kumar Bansal

GST that is Goods and Services Tax has been in compel since first July, 2017 and which is, in constrain on numerous countries globally and they all were thinking about it as their business assessment framework. The principle reason for GST is to realize single tax on products at both centre and the state level in the nation.


Shore & Beach ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 53-64
Author(s):  
Edward Atkin ◽  
Dan Reineman ◽  
Jesse Reiblich ◽  
David Revell

Surf breaks are finite, valuable, and vulnerable natural resources, that not only influence community and cultural identities, but are a source of revenue and provide a range of health benefits. Despite these values, surf breaks largely lack recognition as coastal resources and therefore the associated management measures required to maintain them. Some countries, especially those endowed with high-quality surf breaks and where the sport of surfing is accepted as mainstream, have recognized the value of surfing resources and have specific policies for their conservation. In Aotearoa New Zealand surf breaks are included within national environmental policy. Aotearoa New Zealand has recently produced Management Guidelines for Surfing Resources (MGSR), which were developed in conjunction with universities, regional authorities, not-for-profit entities, and government agencies. The MGSR provide recommendations for both consenting authorities and those wishing to undertake activities in the coastal marine area, as well as tools and techniques to aid in the management of surfing resources. While the MGSR are firmly aligned with Aotearoa New Zealand’s cultural and legal frameworks, much of their content is applicable to surf breaks worldwide. In the United States, there are several national-level and state-level statutes that are generally relevant to various aspects of surfing resources, but there is no law or policy that directly addresses them. This paper describes the MGSR, considers California’s existing governance frameworks, and examines the potential benefits of adapting and expanding the MGSR in this state.


2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanjay Gupta ◽  
Daniel P. Lynch

ABSTRACT Using a new hand-collected database on state department of revenue (DOR) expenditures, this study examines the association between changes in state corporate tax enforcement expenditures and state-level tax collections during the 2000–2008 time period. The results, after addressing endogeneity concerns using a changes specification and state fixed effects, suggest a $1 increase (decrease) in current period corporate enforcement is associated with an $8 to $11 increase (decrease) in state tax collections two years into the future. The association appears to be attenuated in states with restrictive tax policies (i.e., unitary/combined reporting and related-party add-back provisions) suggesting that enforcement and restrictive tax policies could serve as substitutes. JEL Classifications: H26; H71; H72. Data Availability: Enforcement data were hand collected from state revenue department annual reports and by contacting state corporate income tax personnel. All annual reports are publicly available.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Firoza Akhter ◽  
Maurizio Mazzoleni ◽  
Luigia Brandimarte

In this study, we explore the long-term trends of floodplain population dynamics at different spatial scales in the contiguous United States (U.S.). We exploit different types of datasets from 1790–2010—i.e., decadal spatial distribution for the population density in the US, global floodplains dataset, large-scale data of flood occurrence and damage, and structural and nonstructural flood protection measures for the US. At the national level, we found that the population initially settled down within the floodplains and then spread across its territory over time. At the state level, we observed that flood damages and national protection measures might have contributed to a learning effect, which in turn, shaped the floodplain population dynamics over time. Finally, at the county level, other socio-economic factors such as local flood insurances, economic activities, and socio-political context may predominantly influence the dynamics. Our study shows that different influencing factors affect floodplain population dynamics at different spatial scales. These facts are crucial for a reliable development and implementation of flood risk management planning.


Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 444
Author(s):  
Charles Stoecker

In the past two decades, most states in the United States have added authorization for pharmacists to administer some vaccinations. Expansions of this authority have also come with prescription requirements or other regulatory burdens. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of these expansions on influenza immunization rates in adults age 65 and over. A panel data, differences-in-differences regression framework to control for state-level unobserved confounders and shocks at the national level was used on a combination of a dataset of state-level statute and regulatory changes and influenza immunization data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Giving pharmacists permission to vaccinate had a positive impact on adult influenza immunization rates of 1.4 percentage points for adults age 65 and over. This effect was diminished by the presence of laws requiring pharmacists to obtain patient-specific prescriptions. There was no evidence that allowing pharmacists to administer vaccinations led patients to have fewer annual check-ups with physicians or not have a usual source of health care. Expanding pharmacists’ scope of practice laws to include administering the influenza vaccine had a positive impact on influenza shot uptake. This may have implications for relaxing restrictions on other forms of care that could be provided by pharmacists.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aria Asadi Eskandar ◽  
Murali Raman

Most of the international e-Government benchmarking studies have focused on national government websites such as portal of ministries at the national level. This paper examines the level of sophistication of e-Government websites for different states in Malaysia, as opposed to a national level assessment, both in terms of the breadth and depth of e-Government service offering. This paper adds to the existing body of knowledge in relation to e-Government web portal assessment in two ways. First, studies pertaining to e-Government in Malaysia focus mainly on implementation issues at the Federal/National level– The authors examined State level implementation of e-Government services. Secondly, they used a predetermined instrument to assess the sophistication level of State government web portals, by consolidating different measurement items from our review of literature over the past ten years. The authors analyzed the website for a total of thirteen states in Malaysia, in relation to six different dimension measures of e-Government service offerings, as prescribed by literature. These six dimension measures are the extent of transparency, interactivity, usability and accessibility of the portal, citizen participation, security and privacy, and maturity level of services. A content analysis of the web portal was done, using a predetermined instrument developed based on our review of literature on this topic, in the past ten years. Their findings suggest that different State Governments in Malaysia demonstrate different levels of maturity in relation to the six dimensions measured.


2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónica García Quesada

AbstractFailures of compliance with European Union (EU) directives have revealed the EU as a political system capable of enacting laws in a wide range of different policy areas, but facing difficulties to ensure their actual implementation. Although the EU relies on national enforcement agencies to ensure compliance with the EU legislation, there is scarce analysis of the differential deterrent effect of national enforcement in EU law compliance. This article examines the enforcement of an EU water directive, the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, in Spain and the UK. It focuses on the existing national sanctions for disciplining actors in charge of complying with EU requirements, and on the actual use of punitive sanctions. The analysis shows that a more comprehensive and active disciplinary regime at the national level contributes to explain a higher degree of compliance with EU law. The article calls for a detailed examination of the national administrative and criminal sanction system for a more comprehensive understanding of the incentives and disincentives to comply with EU law at the national state level.


2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Weston ◽  
Lauren Epstein ◽  
Lisa E. Davidson ◽  
Alfred DeMaria ◽  
Shira Doron

Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) are critically important for combating the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. Despite this, there are no regulatory requirements at a national level, which makes initiatives at the state level critical. The objectives of this study were to identify existing antimicrobial stewardship practices, characterize barriers to antimicrobial stewardship implementation in acute care hospitals throughout Massachusetts, and evaluate the impact on these hospitals of a state-sponsored educational conference on antimicrobial stewardship.In September 2011, a state-sponsored educational program entitled “Building Stewardship: A Team Approach Enhancing Antibiotic Stewardship in Acute Care Hospitals” was offered to interested practitioners from throughout the state. The program consisted of 2 audio conferences, reading materials, and a 1-day conference consisting of lectures focusing on the importance of ASPs, strategies for implementation, improvement strategies for existing programs, and panel discussions highlighting successful practices. Smaller breakout sessions focused on operational issues, including understanding of pharmacodynamics, business models, and electronic surveillance.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose, S ◽  
Faisal, T ◽  
Mathai, S. M

This study intends to find out if humour as coping and flow could  significantly be different among athletes and non-athletes, and if the above mentioned variables show any kind of relationship with subjective happiness. A sample of 62 athletes and 75 non-athletes aged between 16 and 22 were selected for the study. Inventories were used to collect the data. It includes The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) by Lyubomirsky (1999) , The Coping Humour Scale(CHS) developed by .A Martin (1983)  and Flow State Scale by Jackson (1995). Demographic information including their age, gender, education level, and sporting involvement was also collected. The obtained results showed that Flow and humour are significantly higher for athletes than non-athletes. Flow and humour is also found to have a significant positive correlation with subjective happiness. Males are found to experience greater subjective happiness than females and they use more humour as coping. National level players experience more flow state than state level players. Second born children were found to be more happier than first born children.  Thus within the limits and limitations of the present study results imply that engagements in athletic activities enhances humour coping and flow which contribute to better subjective happiness.


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