Culture, public policies, and smoking in the OECD

Abstract

Using data from OECD countries, one can investigate the effect of cultural diversity on anti-smoking policies. We use panel data models to test the impact of culture on the effectiveness of anti-smoking policies. It is assumed that two forces are effecting tobacco consumption in a society. These forces can be smoke preventive and smoke encouraging factors. Each of these forces consists of smaller subsets. Preventive policies and the time effects are the main parts of the smoke preventive forces. Culture and its effect on personal capital and social capital can be a part of smoke encouraging or smoke preventive forces. Using different proxies for culture and fixed effect models, this study allows one to investigate the differences in effectiveness of public policies in different OECD countries. The results from empirical investigation indicate that effectiveness of public policies depends on culture, therefore varies across countries. This is important for policymakers who need to avoid imposing uniform policies across a region with cultural diversity without accounting for cultural differences.