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Politics, Policy Analysis, and the Passage of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984

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  • Darren Grant

    (Department of Economics and International Business, Sam Houston State University)

Abstract

The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 exemplifies high-stakes legislation that attracted the interest of the public, legislators, academics, policy advocates, and executive agencies. This paper explores how these actors combined to generate intellectual support for this act within the legislative process. Limitations of the contemporaneous research required that the available evidence be evaluated judiciously. This did not happen, because it is not fostered by the adversarial nature of the process and because its most influential participants, executive agencies heavily involved in traffic safety, lacked the necessary neutrality and expertise.

Suggested Citation

  • Darren Grant, 2011. "Politics, Policy Analysis, and the Passage of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984," Working Papers 1103, Sam Houston State University, Department of Economics and International Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:shs:wpaper:1103
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    File URL: http://www.shsu.edu/academics/economics-and-international-business/documents/wp_series/wp11-03_paper.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    6. Henry Saffer & Michael Grossman, 1986. "Beer Taxes, the Legal Drinking Age, and Youth Motor Vehicle Fatalities," NBER Working Papers 1914, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Donald Freeman, 2012. "Income and Preventable Mortality: The Case of Youth Traffic Fatalities," Working Papers 1201, Sam Houston State University, Department of Economics and International Business.

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