Are alcohol excise taxes good for us?
Subtitle: short and long-term effects on mortality rates
By: Philip J. Cook, Jan Ostermann, Frank A. Sloan.
Contributors: Ostermann, Jan.; Sloan, Frank A.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 11138; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 11138.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Alcohol -- Taxation -- United States.; Drinking of alcoholic beverages -- Economic aspects -- United States.; Mortality -- Economic aspects -- United States
Description: "Regression results from a 30-year panel of the state-level data indicate that changes in alcohol-excise taxes cause a reduction in drinking and lower all-cause mortality in the short run.  But those results do not fully capture the long-term mortality effects of a permanent change in drinking levels.  In particular, since moderate drinking has a protective effect against heart disease in middle age, it is possible that a reduction in per capita drinking will result in some people drinking "too little" and dying sooner than they otherwise would.  To explore that possibility, we simulate the effect of a one percent reduction in drinking on all-cause mortality for the age group 35-69, using several alternative assumptions about how the reduction is distributed across this population.  We find that the long-term mortality effect of a one percent reduction in drinking is essentially nil"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
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