Reducing binge drinking? The effect of a ban on late-night off-premise alcohol sales on alcohol-related hospital stays in Germany

Artikel

Excessive alcohol consumption among young people is a major public health concern. On March 1, 2010, the German state of Baden-Württemberg banned the sale of alcoholic beverages between 10pm and 5am at off-premise outlets (e.g., gas stations, kiosks, supermarkets). We use rich monthly administrative data from a 70% random sample of all hospitalizations during the years 2007–2011 in Germany in order to evaluate the short-term impact of this policy on alcohol-related hospitalizations. Applying difference-in-differences methods, we find that the policy change reduces alcohol-related hospitalizations among adolescents and young adults by about 7%. There is also evidence of a decrease in the number of hospitalizations due to violent assault as a result of the ban.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: ISSN: 0047-2727 ; Volume: Journal of Public Economics ; Year: 2015 ; Pages: 55-77 ; Amsterdam: Elsevier

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Health Behavior ; Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health ; Microeconomic Policy: Formulation, Implementation, and Evaluation
• Subject: Binge drinking ; Drinking hours ; Alcohol control policies ; Difference-in-differences ; Hospital diagnosis statistics ; Alcohol

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Marcus, Jan ; Siedler, Thomas
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Elsevier ; ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics
• (where): Amsterdam
• (when): 2015

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.12.010
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/203124
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET