Impact of smoking bans in pubs and restaurants

Background: The aim of this study is to find out how the smoking ban in public places affected the turnover of restaurants and bars, tobacco consumption and the number of smokers in Europe. To become more familiar with this issue, we will analyze some reasons in favor of implementing the ban. At the end, we will compare collected results with a view of economic theory. Methods: We will focus on five states where regulation has been introduced, namely Ireland, Norway, Italy, Scotland and England. The data necessary to analyze the impact of the ban are obtained from particular studies examining changes in selected states. Then, we will summarize all information, determine how the hospitality sector and tobacco industry were affected and if our results are corresponding with economic theory. Results: Arguments of regulation promoters seem to be at least controversial. From our perspective the only valid argument is based on health complications, which are caused by passive smoking. The growth was not measured for any surveyed area in any country. Regulation caused a decrease in turnover of pubs and restaurants, in sales of tobacco and the number of smokers in the population was reduced because of that too. The economic theory says that structure of the market is shifted by the smoking ban to the inefficient form, which is corresponding with measured results. Discussion: Considering the economic and in our opinion even moral view, it would not be wise to introduce the smoking ban in public places. Both of surveyed branches suffer from the regulation. If the chance to choice whether an establishment will be smoking or not stays in the hands of the owners, who are trying to perfectly meet the supply of their customers. Then there will be an optimal allocation of both smoking and smoke-free establishments, which will cause a maximization of social welfare