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Politics : A Neutral Corner
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To: Lane3 who wrote (2242)7/31/2007 5:05:56 PM
From: TimF   of 2253
 
I agree that a change in old restaurants won't generate the same kind of buzz that a "new widget" might create (and even a brand new restaurant often won't have a lot of buzz or if it does it will probably be for some other reason then smoking policy). And also its harder to separate out whether success of failure of the business is due to smoking policy (unless the change is really dramatic). While I think this makes market based change more difficult, I don't think it makes them impossible. And of course if you don't start with the assumption that the point is to make the change, then even no change isn't market failure, except in the most broad sense of the term in that the market doesn't perfect address everyone's desires. But nothing will perfectly address everyone's desires, and that includes laws against smoking in bars.

Remember, Tim, I'm old enough to remember spittoons. You don't find them in bars anymore, either. It took laws to make that happen.

Did it? I don't remember them (at least not as something common) but I doubt that all major jurisdictions have laws against them. I don't doubt that laws in some places made their disappearance easier and/or faster but I bet they would have faded away anyway, and in fact I think they may have indeed done so in the absence of a law in many places.
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