Municipalities all across the country have either considered or enacted a plastic bag ban. In some places they are paying deference to the environmental movement. But in others it's a simple matter of trying to eliminate the eyesores on vacant lots where the windblown bags drape wild shrubbery.
But there are always unintended consequences. The National Center for Policy Analysis has published a paper titled A Survey on the Economic Effects of Los Angeles County’s Plastic Bag Ban in which they tell us that business in the stores within the jurisdiction in which plastic bags were banned lost business, and businesses outside the ban area gained business. Here's an excerpt from the executive summary:
The purpose of the survey was to determine the effects of the ban on sales and employment at the stores affected by the ban. The study also sought to determine if consumers changed their shopping behavior by increasing purchases at stores that could still offer plastic bags. The survey found that following full implementation of the ban, sales increased at stores in incorporated cities compared with stores in unincorporated areas. Of these respondents to the survey affected by the ban:
- Over a one-year period (pre- and post-bag ban), 60 percent of stores in incorporated areas reported an increase in sales averaging 9 percent.
- Fourth-fifths of the stores in the unincorporated areas reported a decrease in sales averaging, –5.7 percent.
Examining the overall change in sales of all the stores that responded among the two groups (incorporated versus unincorporated):
- Incorporated stores experienced an increase in sales of 3.4 percent.
- However, unincorporated stores reported a decline in sales of –3.3 percent.
Should this have been foreseeable by the rule makers? If it wasn't before, it is now.
Via.
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