scholarly journals Impact of Non-smoking Ordinances on Hospitality Revenues: The Case of Germany

Author(s):  
Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt ◽  
Wolfgang Maennig

SummaryNon-smoking ordinances are among the most popular albeit controversial public health-care legislations worldwide. This article provides an empirical assessment of the impact of nonsmoking ordinances on bar and restaurant revenues in German Federal States. By application of a standard panel regression approach and a quasi-experimental research design, we find no compelling evidence for a significant impact of the introduction as well as the weakening of the legislation on revenues of bars and restaurants. Consumption pattern has either not changed at all or any reduction in spending by smokers is compensated for by a corresponding increase by non-smokers. These findings support the German - and similar - non-smoking legislations in the sense that positive externalities resulting from reduced health care cost are likely to outweigh the risk to businesses in the hospitality sector.

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Botti Abbade

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the associations between obesogenic severity, the public health situation, environmental impacts, and health care expenditures in populations worldwide. Design/methodology/approach This ecological study is based on official data available for approximately 140 countries worldwide. This study defines four main variables: obesogenic severity, environmental impact, public health implications (PHI), and health expenditures, all measured through specific indicators. Data were obtained mainly from the WHO, World Bank, and IDF. The indicators were reduced to the main variables through factorial reduction and multiple regression analyses were used to test the main hypotheses. Findings Obesogenic severity strongly and positively affects environmental impacts (β=0.6578; p<0.001), PHI-1 (cardiovascular risk factor) (β=0.3137; p<0.001) and PHI-2 (blood glucose and diabetes diagnoses) (β=0.3170; p<0.001). Additionally, environmental impacts strongly and positively affect PHI-1 (β=0.4978; p<0.001) but not PHI-2. Thus, results suggest that environmental impact, PHI-1, and PHI-2 strongly affect health expenditures (β=0.3154; p<0.001, β=0.5745; p<0.001, and β=−0.4843; p<0.001, respectively), with PHI-2 negatively affecting the health expenditures. Practical implications This study presents evidence that can aid in decision making regarding public and private efforts to better align budgets and resources as well as predict the needs and expenditures of public health care systems. Originality/value This investigation finds that the main variables addressed are strongly associated at the worldwide level. Thus, these analytical procedures can be used to predict public health and health care cost scenarios at the global level.


Author(s):  
Haochuan Xu ◽  
Han Yang ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
Xuefeng Li

Due to the limitations in the verifiability of individual identity, migrant workers have encountered some obstacles in access to public health care services. Residence permits issued by the Chinese government are a solution to address the health care access inequality faced by migrant workers. In principle, migrant workers with residence permits have similar rights as urban locals. However, the validity of residence permits is still controversial. This study aimed to examine the impact of residence permits on public health care services. Data were taken from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS). Our results showed that the utilization of health care services of migrant workers with residence permits was significantly better than others. However, although statistically significant, the substantive significance is modest. In addition, megacities had significant negative moderating effects between residence permits and health care services utilization. Our research results emphasized that reforms of the household registration system, taking the residence permit system as a breakthrough, cannot wholly address the health care access inequality in China. For developing countries with uneven regional development, the health care access inequality faced by migrant workers is a structural issue.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela dos Santos de Jesus ◽  
Julia Moreira Pescarini ◽  
Andréa Silva ◽  
Ana Wieczorek Torrens ◽  
Elzo Pereira Pinto Júnior ◽  
...  

Utafiti ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-110
Author(s):  
Kiagho Kilonzo

Abstract The twentieth century saw a huge increase worldwide in the presence of the arts in organisations and institutions involved in healthcare activities, including public health care research conducting in various countries. This article shows the impact of using art to engage literate and non-literate people in the pro-active translation of research outcomes into their own cultural practices and their personal decisions affecting their health status. The study demonstrates that art can be of use changing social behaviour and therefore to improve public health records in statistically significant ways. This work also demonstrates that the term ‘art’ refers to more than a means of entertainment and passive appreciation of aesthetics; the effectiveness of art is tangible and its impact is measurable as a mode of education, and as providing a deeply needed instructive incentive for hygienic and sanitation transformation.


Medicina ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (12) ◽  
pp. 691
Author(s):  
Davide Ferorelli ◽  
Gabriele Mandarelli ◽  
Biagio Solarino

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Italy has proven to be one of the countries with the highest coronavirus-linked death rate. To reduce the impact of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the Italian Government decision-makers issued a series of law decrees that imposed measures limiting social contacts, stopped non-essential production activities, and restructured public health care in order to privilege assistance to patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. Health care services were substantially limited including planned hospitalization and elective surgeries. These substantial measures were criticized due to their impact on individual rights including freedom and autonomy, but were justified by the awareness that hospitals would have been unable to cope with the surge of infected people who needed treatment for COVID-19. The imbalance between the need to guarantee ordinary care and to deal with the pandemic, in a context of limited health resources, raises ethical concerns as well as clinical management issues. The emergency scenario caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the lockdown phase, led the Government and health care decision-makers to prioritize community safety above the individuals’ rights. This new community-centered approach to clinical care has created tension among the practitioners and exposed health workers to malpractice claims. Reducing the morbidity and mortality rates of the COVID-19 pandemic is the priority of every government, but the legitimate question remains whether the policy that supports this measure could be less harmful for the health care system.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. e0124791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Razzouk ◽  
Monica Kayo ◽  
Aglaé Sousa ◽  
Guilherme Gregorio ◽  
Hugo Cogo-Moreira ◽  
...  

1984 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Richard Brown

Cutbacks in public health care programs at federal, state, and local levels have reduced the health care access of many low-income persons. Based on findings from several California studies, this article suggests several roles for health educators intended to prevent cutbacks or mitigate their impact. Methods of preventing cutbacks rely on community organization methods and coalitions including health education professional groups. When preventive actions are unsuccessful, health educators may ease the impact of cutbacks by developing adequate education interventions for users of affected services and community organization strategies to improve access to remaining services. Specific methods are suggested and discussed.


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