Smoking ban and life satisfaction: Evidencefrom the UK

This paper contributes to the literature on happiness economics by testing whether a national smoking ban contributes to changes in smoking behaviour amongst smokers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Based on 'set-point'theory and the idea of the hedonic treadmill it is argued that the ban may only have a temporary impact on happiness of smokers and non-smokers. By using an ordered probit model this paper tests whether there was any change in reported life satisfaction after the UK introduced a ban on smoking in public places