effect of alcohol consumption on mortality
Subtitle: regression discontinuity evidence from the minimum drinking age
By: Christopher Carpenter, Carlos Dobkin.
Contributors: Dobkin, Carlos.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- no. 13374.; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) -- working paper no. 13374.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 25
Subjects: Drinking of alcoholic beverages; Mortality -- Econometric models
Description: This paper estimates the effect of alcohol consumption on mortality using the minimum drinking age in a regression discontinuity design. We find that granting legal access to alcohol at age 21 leads to large and immediate increases in several measures of alcohol consumption, including a 21 percent increase in the number of days on which people drink. This increase in alcohol consumption results in a discrete 9 percent increase in the mortality rate at age 21. The overall increase in deaths is due primarily to a 14 percent increase in deaths due to motor vehicle accidents, a 30 percent increase in alcohol overdoses and alcohol-related deaths, and a 15 percent increase in suicides. Combining the reduced-form estimates reveals that a 1 percent increase in the number of days a young adult drinks or drinks heavily results in a .4 percent increase in total mortality. Given that mortality due to external causes peaks at about age 21 and that young adults report very high levels of alcohol consumption, our results suggest that public policy interventions to reduce youth drinking can have substantial public health benefits.
Notes: "September 2007"

Includes bibliographical references (p. 23-25).

Also available in PDF from the NBER world wide web site (www.nber.org).