@article{ref1,
title="What happens to drinking when alcohol policy changes? A review of five natural experiments for alcohol taxes, prices, and availability",
journal="European journal of health economics",
year="2016",
author="Nelson, Jon P. and McNall, Amy D.",
volume="18",
number="4",
pages="417-434",
abstract="Natural experiments are an important alternative to observational and econometric studies. This paper provides a review of results from empirical studies of alcohol policy interventions in five countries: Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Sweden, and Switzerland. Major policy changes were removal of quotas on travelers' tax-free imports and reductions in alcohol taxes. A total of 29 primary articles are reviewed, which contain 35 sets of results for alcohol consumption by various subpopulations and time periods. For each country, the review summarizes and examines: (1) history of tax/quota policy interventions and price changes; (2) graphical trends for alcohol consumption and liver disease mortality; and (3) empirical results for policy effects on alcohol consumption and drinking patterns. We also compare cross-country results for three select outcomes-binge drinking, alcohol consumption by youth and young adults, and heavy consumption by older adults. Overall, we find a lack of consistent results for consumption both within- and across-countries, with a general finding that alcohol tax interventions had selective, rather than broad, impacts on subpopulations and drinking patterns. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1618-7598",
doi="10.1007/s10198-016-0795-0",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10198-016-0795-0"
}