Alcohol Price Floors and Externalities: The Case of Fatal Road Crashes

Arbeitspapier

In May 2018, Scotland introduced a minimum unit price on alcohol. We examine the impact of this policy on traffic fatalities and drunk driving accidents. Using administrative data on the universe of vehicle collisions in Britain and a range of quasi-experimental modeling approaches, we do not find that the policy had an effect on road crash deaths and drunk driving collisions. The results are robust to several sensitivity exercises. There is no evidence of effect heterogeneity by income and other predictors of alcohol consumption or cross-border effects. A brief discussion of the policy implications of our findings is provided.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 15276

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis ; Externalities ; Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies ; Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law ; Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
• Subject: motor vehicle collisions ; minimum unit pricing ; alcohol ; externality ; driving under the influence

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Francesconi, Marco ; James, Jonathan
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/263492
• Last update: 10.03.0021, 11:43 AM CET