The influence of a smoking ban on the profitability of Belgian restaurants

S. de Schoenmaker (), P. van Cauwenberge () and H. Vander Bauwhede ()
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H. Vander Bauwhede: -

Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium from Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Abstract: Objective: To examine whether the nationwide smoking ban, imposed in 2007, had an impact on the profitability of Belgian restaurants. Data and methods: Objective financial reporting data on 1,613 restaurants were analysed with return on assets as the outcome measure. The data were collected from the Belfirst database and cover the period 2004-2009. To assess the impact of the smoking ban, a differences-indifferences estimation method was used, with bars serving as the control group. The regression model was estimated, while controlling for firm-specific characteristics and unobserved firmlevel heterogeneity. Results: The variable of interest is the interaction between the smoking ban dummy and the dummy for the treatment group. The coefficient of this variable is insignificant. Conclusion: The adoption of the nationwide smoking ban did not affect the profitability of Belgian restaurants.

Pages: 2 pages
Date: 2012-06
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rug:rugwps:12/791

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