This public lecture is now available as MP3 (please listen to the file below - starts at 0:25) and the PowerPoint slides as a PDF file (as a courtesy to the presenter, please contact him for permission to refer to his PowerPoint notes for the purpose of further research).

In recent years the proportion of people who smoke in developed countries has reached a plateau. Nevertheless, the European Commission encourages member countries to run anti-smoking campaigns.  This paper focuses on the United Kingdom and aims to inform policy makers in the UK and elsewhere about the effects of anti-smoking campaigns. It analyses the beliefs that smokers and non-smokers have about the dangers of passive smoking, with particular interest in whether these beliefs vary amongst smokers of different ages. Using data from the Health Survey for England the paper finds strong evidence that it is the older smokers who are less prone to believe in the dangers of passive smoking whilst younger smokers essentially have the same beliefs as non-smokers. This conclusion is robust to a number of sensitivity analyses. The paper concludes that the main effect of current campaigns is the continuing deterrence of potential young smokers.

Grace Lordan is a health economist working at the University of Queensland. She holds a PhD from Trinity College Dublin and pursues research interests in a number of areas of economic research.  Her favourite research areas are racism and health outcomes, policy and unhealthy behaviors, recessions and health, and issues pertaining to developing countries. Grace seeks to build a research agenda, which, along with having an academic audience, will also be policy relevant. When she is not working, she enjoys reading, travelling, blogging and trying new things. To learn more about her, please visit www.gracelordan.com

To view the flyer for this event please see: The Impact of UK Anti-Smoking Policies in the Context of EU Directives