Smoking bans in the US are associated with a 15.1pc decrease in dining-out expenditures among smoking households, but an 8.6pc spending increase by non-smoking households, say Dohyung Kim of the Korea Development Institute and Baris K. Yörük of the University at Albany. As long as fewer than 36pc of households are non-smoking, smoking bans will have a neutral or positive impact on restaurant revenues. In the study, 28pc of the households were classified as smoking, and the aggregate impact of bans was statistically insignificant.

(Source: Journal of Urban Economics)

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, August 3rd, 2015

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