The author would like to thank Corné Van Walbeek, Paul Dunne, Andrew Mearman and participants at the Economic Society of South African bi-annual conference in Durban, September, 2005, for useful comments and suggestions and Lesley O'Connell at the SARS for providing the VAT data. The author would also like to acknowledge the financial support of Research for International Tobacco Control, the American Cancer Society and the Canadian Tobacco Control Research Initiative through the Small Grants Research Competition to support ratification, implementation and/or enforcement of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. All errors and omissions remain the author's alone.
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THE EFFECTS OF THE TOBACCO PRODUCTS CONTROL AMENDMENT ACT OF 1999 ON RESTAURANT REVENUES IN SOUTH AFRICA: A PANEL DATA APPROACH
Article first published online: 4 MAY 2006
DOI: 10.1111/j.1813-6982.2006.00052.x
Additional Information
How to Cite
Blecher, . E. h. (2006), THE EFFECTS OF THE TOBACCO PRODUCTS CONTROL AMENDMENT ACT OF 1999 ON RESTAURANT REVENUES IN SOUTH AFRICA: A PANEL DATA APPROACH. South African Journal of Economics, 74: 123–130. doi: 10.1111/j.1813-6982.2006.00052.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 4 MAY 2006
- Article first published online: 4 MAY 2006
- Abstract
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- L66
- tobacco policy;
- restaurants;
- smoking;
- environmental tobacco smoke;
- panel data
Abstract
Prior to the implementation of this legislation the restaurant industry lobbied that a full-scale ban would severely hurt business. Their lobbying resulted in a restrictive restaurant smoking policy rather than a full-scale ban. Nevertheless the industry argued that this would still severely hurt business citing international evidence in support. The objective of this paper is to investigate the change in restaurant revenues after the implementation of a public smoking ban in South Africa. We use a fixed effects panel model to explore the response of restaurant revenues to the imposition of the ban. Provincial data is used over the period 1995 to 2003 and VAT receipts are used as a proxy of restaurant turnover. We conclude that restrictive restaurant smoking policies have not had a negative effect on restaurant revenue, indicating that claims of countrywide restaurant business declines under such a policy are unwarranted.