The Impact of Smoking Bans in Bars on Alcohol Consumption and Smoking

Anne M. Burton

Journal of Law and Economics, 2025, vol. 68, issue 1, 183 - 214

Abstract: Governments implemented smoking bans in bars to target smoking-related externalities, but these bans may also affect drinking. This paper studies smoking bans’ effects on alcohol consumption and smoking behavior. I estimate a difference-in-differences model that exploits spatial and temporal variation in smoking bans. Bans result in a 1-drink-per-month (5 percent) increase in intensive-margin alcohol consumption and no economically meaningful effects on smoking. Effects on alcohol consumption are concentrated among current and former smokers. These results imply that smoking bans lead to unintended consequences in the form of increased alcohol consumption.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/731698 (application/pdf)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/731698 (text/html)
Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucp:jlawec:doi:10.1086/731698

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Law and Economics from University of Chicago Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journals Division ().