title: Economic Impact of Smoke-Free Legislation: Did the Spanish Tobacco Control Law Affect the Economic Activity of Bars and Restaurants?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The potential of smoke-free bans to negatively impact the hospitality business has been an argument of the hospitality and tobacco industry against such legislation. A partial smoke-free legislation was introduced in Spain in 2006 allowing smoking in most bars and restaurants due to the pressure of the hospitality sector. However, this partial ban was later amended in 2011 to include all the hospitality premises without exceptions. The stepped Spanish process permits to evaluate whether the entry into force of the smoke-free legislation had any effect on the economic activity of the hospitality sector.
  
  
  METHODS
  We employed a pooled time series cross-sectional design, with national data over 6 years (2006-2011). The dependent variable used was the total number of bars and restaurants per 100,000 inhabitants. The explanatory variables used were the average amount of spending per household in bars and restaurants, and the total unemployment rate in Spain by regions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For every 1% increase in the unemployment rate there was a 0.05% decrease in the number of bars and restaurants. In 2007, the number of bars and restaurants was significantly reduced by 13.06% (all others factors being held constant), 4.87% in 2008, and 10.42% in 2009. No statistically significant effect of the smoke-free legislation emerged from 2010 (6.76%) to 2011 (7.69%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The new Spanish smoke-free legislation had no effect on the number of bars and restaurants.
authors.affiliation: Fundación Instituto de Investigación en Servicios Sanitarios (IISS), València, Spain; CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain; Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain;
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: García-Altés
authors.affiliation: Department of Quantitative Methods in Economics, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain;
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pinilla
authors.affiliation: CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain; Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain; Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marí-Dell'Olmo
authors.affiliation: Tobacco Control Unit, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Institut Català d'Oncologia, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain; Cancer Control and Prevention Group, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge-IDIBELL, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Clinical Sciences, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain efernandez@iconcologia.net.
authors.forename: Esteve
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.affiliation: CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain; Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain; Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;
authors.forename: Maria José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: López
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004651:Employment; D006801:Humans; D012147:Restaurants / Q000191:economics*; D012907:Smoking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012919:Social Behavior; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution