title: The influence of a smoking ban on the profitability of Belgian restaurants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether the nationwide smoking ban, imposed in 2007, had an impact on the profitability of Belgian restaurants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Objective financial reporting data on 1613 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-in-differences estimation method was used, with bars serving as the control group. The regression model was estimated, while controlling for firm-specific characteristics and unobserved firm-level 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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The adoption of the nationwide smoking ban did not affect the profitability of Belgian restaurants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Accountancy and Corporate Finance, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Schoenmaker
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Van Cauwenberge
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vander Bauwhede
mesh_terms: D001530:Belgium; D003132:Commerce / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D012147:Restaurants / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D061845:Smoke-Free Policy / Q000191:economics*; D012907:Smoking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution