IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aawewp/164652.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Binge Drinking, Alcohol Prices, And Alcohol Taxes

Author

Listed:
  • Nelson, Jon P.

Abstract

Background - Heavy episodic (“binge”) drinking of alcohol has serious public health implications, especially for youth and young adults. However, previous reviews have failed to address in a comprehensive manner the effects of alcohol prices and taxes on binge drinking by gender and age group. Methods: A systematic review is performed for possible effects of alcohol prices and taxes on binge drinking for three age groups. Outcomes examined include binge participation, intensity and frequency. Fifty-six relevant economic studies were recovered, with results distributed equally among three age groups. Also recovered were five natural experiments for tax reductions and six field studies, which increased the country coverage. Criteria for inclusion/exclusion and potential sources of bias are discussed, including adequacy of price and tax data. Price-binge relationships are judged using a 95% confidence interval (p ≤ 0.05) for statistical significance. Results: More than half of economic studies report insignificant results for prices or taxes (30 null of 56 studies), with mixed results in 13 studies and significant results in only 13 studies. Null results are equally distributed across age groups, but some mixed results reflect different outcomes by gender. Prices or taxes are insignificant for 11 of 16 samples for men and 7 of 14 samples for women. Four of five natural experiments report null results for country-level tax cuts. Six field studies examine a variety of pricing methods and drink specials, but results are mixed. Conclusions: A large body of evidence now indicates that binge drinkers are not highly-responsive to increased prices or taxes, and may not respond at all. Nonresponsiveness holds generally for younger and older drinkers and for male and female binge drinkers alike. Increased alcohol prices or taxes are unlikely to be effective as a means to reduce binge drinking, regardless of gender or age group.

Suggested Citation

  • Nelson, Jon P., 2014. "Binge Drinking, Alcohol Prices, And Alcohol Taxes," Working Papers 164652, American Association of Wine Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aawewp:164652
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.164652
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/164652/files/AAWE_WP146.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.164652?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ellen E. Bouchery & Henrick J. Harwood & Jeffrey J. Sacks & Carol J. Simon & Robert D. Brewer, "undated". "Economic Costs of Excessive Alcohol Consumption in the U.S., 2006," Mathematica Policy Research Reports f0a7af763751488fafb0eb0ab, Mathematica Policy Research.
    2. Jenny Williams & Frank J. Chaloupka & Henry Wechsler, 2005. "Are There Differential Effects of Price and Policy on College Students’Drinking Intensity?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 23(1), pages 78-90, January.
    3. Sloan, Frank A & Reilly, Bridget A & Schenzler, Christoph, 1995. "Effects of Tort Liability and Insurance on Heavy Drinking and Drinking and Driving," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(1), pages 49-77, April.
    4. Jeremy W. Bray, 2005. "Alcohol Use, Human Capital, and Wages," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(2), pages 279-312, April.
    5. Michael T. French & Johanna C. Maclean, 2006. "Underage alcohol use, delinquency, and criminal activity," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(12), pages 1261-1281, December.
    6. John P A Ioannidis, 2005. "Why Most Published Research Findings Are False," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(8), pages 1-1, August.
    7. Jenny Williams, 2005. "Habit formation and college students' demand for alcohol," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(2), pages 119-134, February.
    8. Farrell, Susan & Manning, Willard G. & Finch, Michael D., 2003. "Alcohol dependence and the price of alcoholic beverages," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 117-147, January.
    9. Young, Douglas J & Bieli´nska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka, 2002. "Alcohol Taxes and Beverage Prices," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 55(1), pages 57-73, March.
    10. Cowan, Benjamin W., 2011. "Forward-thinking teens: The effects of college costs on adolescent risky behavior," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 813-825, October.
    11. Keng, Shao-Hsun, 1998. "The demand for health, alcohol abuse, and labor market outcomes: a longitudinal study," ISU General Staff Papers 1998010108000012934, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    12. Frank J. Chaloupka & Adit Laixuthai, 1997. "Do Youths Substitute Alcohol and Marijuana? Some Econometric Evidence," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 23(3), pages 253-276, Summer.
    13. María E. Dávalos & Hai Fang & Michael T. French, 2012. "Easing The Pain Of An Economic Downturn: Macroeconomic Conditions And Excessive Alcohol Consumption," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(11), pages 1318-1335, November.
    14. Young, Douglas J & Bieli´nska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka, 2002. "Alcohol Taxes and Beverage Prices," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 55(N. 1), pages 57-73, March.
    15. Shao-Hsun Keng & Wallace Huffman, 2010. "Binge drinking and labor market success: a longitudinal study on young people," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(1), pages 303-322, January.
    16. Philip J. Cook & Michael J. Moore, 2001. "Environment and Persistence in Youthful Drinking Patterns," NBER Chapters, in: Risky Behavior among Youths: An Economic Analysis, pages 375-438, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Damien de Walque, 2014. "Risking Your Health : Causes, Consequences, and Interventions to Prevent Risky Behaviors," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 16305.
    18. Francesco Renna, 2007. "The economic cost of teen drinking: late graduation and lowered earnings," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(4), pages 407-419, April.
    19. Vipul Bhatt, 2011. "Adolescent Alcohol Use and Intergenerational Transfers: Evidence from Micro Data," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 296-307, June.
    20. Henry Saffer & Dhaval Dave, 2006. "Alcohol advertising and alcohol consumption by adolescents," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(6), pages 617-637, June.
    21. Craig A. Gallet, 2007. "The demand for alcohol: a meta-analysis of elasticities," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 51(2), pages 121-135, June.
    22. Cook, Philip J. & Moore, Michael J., 1994. "This Tax's for You: The Case for Higher Beer Taxes," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 47(3), pages 559-73, September.
    23. Carpenter Christopher S & Kloska Deborah D & O'Malley Patrick & Johnston Lloyd, 2007. "Alcohol Control Policies and Youth Alcohol Consumption: Evidence from 28 Years of Monitoring the Future," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-23, May.
    24. Kuntsche, E. & Rehm, J. & Gmel, G., 2004. "Characteristics of binge drinkers in Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 113-127, July.
    25. Matthew Sutton & Christine Godfrey, 1995. "A grouped data regression approach to estimating economic and social influences on individual drinking behaviour," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 4(3), pages 237-247, May.
    26. Adit Laixuthai & Frank J. Chaloupka, 1993. "Youth Alcohol Use And Public Policy," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 11(4), pages 70-81, October.
    27. Sara Markowitz, 2001. "The Role of Alcohol and Drug Consumption in Determining Physical Fights and Weapon Carrying by Teenagers," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 27(4), pages 409-432, Fall.
    28. Tinna Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir & Hope Corman & Kelly Noonan & Þórhildur Ólafsdóttir & Nancy E. Reichman, 2012. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health Behaviors? Impacts of the Economic Crisis in Iceland," NBER Working Papers 18233, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Dee, Thomas S., 1999. "The complementarity of teen smoking and drinking," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 769-793, December.
    30. Dee, Thomas S., 1999. "State alcohol policies, teen drinking and traffic fatalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 289-315, May.
    31. Gabriel A. Picone & Frank Sloan & Justin G. Trogdon, 2004. "The effect of the tobacco settlement and smoking bans on alcohol consumption," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(10), pages 1063-1080, October.
    32. Kenkel, Donald S, 1993. "Drinking, Driving, and Deterrence: The Effectiveness and Social Costs of Alternative Policies," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(2), pages 877-913, October.
    33. Frank J. Chaloupka & Henry Wechsler, 1996. "Binge Drinking In College: The Impact Of Price, Availability, And Alcohol Control Policies," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 14(4), pages 112-124, October.
    34. Anne Ludbrook & Dennis Petrie & Lynda McKenzie & Shelley Farrar, 2012. "Tackling alcohol misuse," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 51-63, January.
    35. Michael Grossman & Frank J. Chaloupka & Henry Saffer & Adit Laixuthai, 1993. "Effects of Alcohol Price Policy on Youth," NBER Working Papers 4385, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    36. Thomas S. Dee & William N. Evans, 2003. "Teen Drinking and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Two-Sample Instrumental Variables Estimates," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 178-209, January.
    37. Jon Nelson, 2008. "How Similar are Youth and Adult Alcohol Behaviors? Panel Results for Excise Taxes and Outlet Density," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 36(1), pages 89-104, March.
    38. Michael Grossman & Chee-Ruey Hsieh (ed.), 2001. "The Economic Analysis of Substance Use and Abuse," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2347.
    39. Manning, Willard G. & Blumberg, Linda & Moulton, Lawrence H., 1995. "The demand for alcohol: The differential response to price," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 123-148, June.
    40. Cook, Philip J. & Moore, Michael J., 1999. "Alcohol," Working Papers 156, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    41. Alessandro Liberati & Douglas G Altman & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Cynthia Mulrow & Peter C Gøtzsche & John P A Ioannidis & Mike Clarke & P J Devereaux & Jos Kleijnen & David Moher, 2009. "The PRISMA Statement for Reporting Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of Studies That Evaluate Health Care Interventions: Explanation and Elaboration," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-28, July.
    42. Kenkel, Donald S, 1996. "New Estimates of the Optimal Tax on Alcohol," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 34(2), pages 296-319, April.
    43. Ioana Popovici & Michael T. French, 2013. "Does Unemployment Lead to Greater Alcohol Consumption?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 444-466, April.
    44. Alexander J. Cowell, 2006. "The relationship between education and health behavior: some empirical evidence," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(2), pages 125-146, February.
    45. Padmaja Ayyagari & Partha Deb & Jason Fletcher & William Gallo & Jody L. Sindelar, 2013. "Understanding Heterogeneity In Price Elasticities In The Demand For Alcohol For Older Individuals," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 89-105, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bird,Richard M., 2015. "Tobacco and alcohol excise taxes for improving public health and revenue outcomes : marrying sin and virtue ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7500, The World Bank.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jon Nelson, 2015. "Binge drinking and alcohol prices: a systematic review of age-related results from econometric studies, natural experiments and field studies," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Jon P. Nelson, 2014. "Gender Differences In Alcohol Demand: A Systematic Review Of The Role Of Prices And Taxes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(10), pages 1260-1280, October.
    3. Michael T. French & Ioana Popovici, 2011. "That instrument is lousy! In search of agreement when using instrumental variables estimation in substance use research," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(2), pages 127-146, February.
    4. Christopher Carpenter & Carlos Dobkin, 2010. "Alcohol Regulation and Crime," NBER Chapters, in: Controlling Crime: Strategies and Tradeoffs, pages 291-329, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Ruhm, Christopher J. & Jones, Alison Snow & McGeary, Kerry Anne & Kerr, William C. & Terza, Joseph V. & Greenfield, Thomas K. & Pandian, Ravi S., 2012. "What U.S. data should be used to measure the price elasticity of demand for alcohol?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 851-862.
    6. Dave, Dhaval & Saffer, Henry, 2008. "Alcohol demand and risk preference," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 810-831, December.
    7. Cook, Philip J. & Moore, Michael J., 2000. "Alcohol," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 30, pages 1629-1673, Elsevier.
    8. Dhaval Dave & Henry Saffer, 2007. "Risk Tolerance and Alcohol Demand Among Adults and Older Adults," NBER Working Papers 13482, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Ou Yang & Xueyan Zhao & Preety Srivastava, 2016. "Binge Drinking and Antisocial and Unlawful Behaviours in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 92(297), pages 222-240, June.
    10. Bisakha Sen, 2003. "Can Beer Taxes Affect Teen Pregnancy? Evidence Based on Teen Abortion Rates and Birth Rates," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 70(2), pages 328-343, October.
    11. Parry, Ian W.H. & Laxminarayan, Ramanan & West, Sarah E., 2006. "Fiscal and Externality Rationales for Alcohol Taxes," RFF Working Paper Series dp-06-51, Resources for the Future.
    12. Frank A. Sloan & Justin G. Trogdon, 2004. "Litigation and the Political Clout of the Tobacco Companies: Cigarette Taxes, Prices, and the Master Settlement Agreement," School of Economics and Public Policy Working Papers 2004-04, University of Adelaide, School of Economics and Public Policy.
    13. Harris, Mark N. & Ramful, Preety & Zhao, Xueyan, 2006. "An ordered generalised extreme value model with application to alcohol consumption in Australia," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 782-801, July.
    14. Sijbren Cnossen, 2006. "Alcohol Taxation and Regulation in the European Union," CESifo Working Paper Series 1821, CESifo.
    15. Christopher Carpenter & Carlos Dobkin, 2009. "The Effect of Alcohol Consumption on Mortality: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from the Minimum Drinking Age," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 164-182, January.
    16. Brent D. Mast & Bruce L. Benson & David W. Rasmussen, 1999. "Beer Taxation and Alcohol‐Related Traffic Fatalities," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 66(2), pages 214-249, October.
    17. West, Sara E. & Parry, Ian W.H., 2009. "Alcohol-Leisure Complementarity: Empirical Estimates and Implications for Tax Policy," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 62(4), pages 611-633, December.
    18. Vinish Shrestha, 2018. "Do young adults substitute cigarettes for alcohol? Learning from the master settlement agreement," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 297-321, June.
    19. Bruce L. Benson, 2007. "Private Policing And Private Roads: A Coasian Approach To Drunk‐Driving Policy," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 30-38, December.
    20. Xueyan Zhao & Mark Harris & Preety Ramful, 2004. "Alcohol Consumption in Australia: An Application of the Ordered Generalised Extreme Value Model," Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings 301, Econometric Society.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Demand and Price Analysis; Health Economics and Policy;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aawewp:164652. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaweeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.