ALCOHOL PREVALENCE,ALCOHOL POLICIES,AND CHILD FATAL INJURY RATES FROM MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES

In this study, we consider the effects of state alcohol policies on motor vehicle fatalities for children. While numerous studies have considered the effects of such policies on motor vehicle fatalities for the overall population, for teens, and for the elderly, their effects on fatalities among children in particular have not previously been studied. We use state‐level cross‐sectional time series data for 1982–2002. The dependent variable of interest is fatalities among child motor vehicle occupants (CMVO). Separate models are estimated for 0‐ to 4‐yr‐olds, 5‐ to 9‐yr‐olds, and 10‐ to 15‐yr‐olds, as well as for fatalities occurring during the day versus the night. We find that number of fatalities among CMVO is strongly correlated to alcohol use measured at the state level and that administrative license revocation policies and higher beer tax rates appear to consistently reduce such fatalities. For two of the three age groups, beer tax rates appear to reduce fatalities during the night rather than the day. However, zero tolerance and blood alcohol concentration limit laws do not seem to have any statistically significant effects on fatalities. (JEL I18, J13)     

DRUNK DRIVING LEGISLATION AND TRAFFIC FATALITIES: NEW EVIDENCE ON BAC 08 LAWS

This article reexamines the effectiveness of blood alcohol content (BAC) laws in reducing traffic fatalities. Differences-in-differences estimators of U.S. state-level data with standard errors corrected for autocorrelation show no evidence that lowering the BAC limits to 0.08 g/dL reduced fatality rates, either in total or in crashes likely to be alcohol related, or in states that passed BAC 08 in laws either in advance of or in response to federal pressure. Other legislations, including administrative license revocation and primary seat belt laws, are found effective in reducing fatalities in all specifications. Endogeneity tests using event analyses confirm the differences-in-differences estimates. ( JEL I18, K32)     

Adult mortality in Russia

This paper studies the determinants of Russian adult mortality controlling for both individual and household heterogeneity. We employ survival analysis and utilize 12 rounds of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey spanning a 14‐year period. Although confirming the crucial role of excessive alcohol consumption in shaping adult mortality risks in Russia, the results are original in several other respects. We find empirical support for the importance of relative status measured in non‐income terms in shaping mortality hazards. We find evidence of the influence of labour market behaviour, and sectoral and occupational mobility in particular, on longevity. The detrimental role of smoking to health is found to be comparable with the role of excess alcohol consumption, which is novel in the Russian context where the influence of smoking is typically downplayed in comparison with alcoholism. Finally, we find no micro evidence in support of the political economy view based on a positive correlation between low alcohol prices and high mortality rates found in regional‐level data.     

Alcohol-related crashes and alcohol availability in grass-roots communities

This paper employs a unique panel data from 111 small non-metropolitan incorporated cities in California during a 108 month period from January 1981 to December 1989 in order to analyse the effect of alcohol availability on highway safety. Negative binomial regression models are estimated which include alcohol licences per square mile as a measure of alcohol availability. Theoretically, the sign of the alcohol licence density is indeterminate as it reflects a trade-off of its effect on traffic exposure and on the time price alcohol. Among the findings, increases in the density of general alcohol licences for off-site (on-site) alcohol consumption are beneficial (detrimental) to highway safety whereas increasing the density of beer/wine licences have non-uniform effects. Additional findings important to municipal policymakers are that DUI arrests and increasing the price of alcohol reduce alcohol-related crashes.     

Linking Public Investment to Private Investment. The Case of Spanish Regions

Public investment constitutes one of the main instruments of regional policies. The existence of a direct link between infrastructure and regional income per capita is usually accepted. Literature also describes a positive effect of public investment on private capital accumulation. This paper seeks to provide new empirical evidence on this latter relationship for the case of Spanish regions over the period 1965–1997 using panel data methodology. The results show a positive effect of productive and social public investment (especially in education) on private investment. The spillover effects generated by the productive infrastructures located in other regions do not seem to encourage the private investment in neighbouring regions. Public consumption and interest rate exert a negative influence on private capital accumulation. These results are robust to changes in the econometric specification.     

A note on Peltzman's theory of offsetting consumer behavior

A re-estimation of the basic Peltzman (1975) model using a richer data set strongly indicates that mandated automobile safety legislation has been important in reducing traffic fatalities. There is little or no evidence of offsetting consumer behavior.     

Alcohol consumption and alcohol advertising bans

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between alcohol advertising bans and alcohol consumption. Most prior studies have found no effect of advertising on total alcohol consumption. A simple economic model is provided which explains these prior results. The data set used in this study is a pooled time series of data from 20 countries over 26 years. The empirical model is a simultaneous equations system which treats both alcohol consumption and alcohol advertising bans as endogenous. The primary conclusions of this study are that alcohol advertising bans decrease alcohol consumption and that alcohol consumption has a positive effect on the legislation of advertising bans. The results indicate that an increase of one ban could reduce alcohol consumption by 5% to 8%. The alcohol price elasticity is estimated at about 0.2. The results suggest that recent exogenous decreases in alcohol consumption will decrease the probability of enactment of new bans and undermine the continuance of existing bans. Canada, Denmark, New Zealand and Finland have recently rescinded alcohol advertising bans. Alcohol consumption in these countries may increase or decrease at a slower rate than would have occurred had advertising bans remained in place.     

Safety investments,behaviours and injury severity

This study investigates whether recreational boating safety investments and behaviours of current interest are determinants of boating injury severity, and if so, their effects. An ordered probit analysis of 1989–1993 boating accidents suggests that human capital investments in safety, in the form of operator boating experience and formal instruction, reduce both operator and passenger injury severity. Higher levels of operator (passenger) alcohol consumption increase operator (passenger) injury severity, but no relationship was found between operator alcohol consumption and passenger injury severity. At the time a trip is taken, wearing a flotation device has the most efficacious effect on both operator and passenger injury severity. In general, the results support regulatory policies aimed at increasing the use of personal flotation devices as well as reducing alcohol consumption.     

Tobacco and alcohol: complements or substitutes?

The question of whether alcohol and tobacco are consumed as complements or substitutes is crucial for determining the side-effects of anti-smoking policies. Numerous papers have empirically addressed this issue by estimating demand systems for alcohol and tobacco, and subsequently calculating cross-price effects. However, this traditional approach is often seriously hampered by insufficient price variation observed in survey data. We, therefore, suggest an alternative instrumental variables approach that statistically mimics an experimental study and does not rely on prices as explanatory variables. This approach is applied by means of German survey data. Our estimation results suggest that a reduction in tobacco consumption results in a moderate reduction in alcohol consumption. It is demonstrated that this implies that alcohol and tobacco are complements. Hence, we conclude that successful anti-smoking policies will not result in the unintended side-effect of an increased (ab)use of alcohol.     

Traffic fatalities: does income inequality create an externality?

Abstract .  Responsible for 20 million severe injuries and/or deaths annually, few epidemics receive less attention than traffic accidents. Going beyond confirming an inverted U-shaped relationship between mean income and fatalities, we show theoretically that income inequality can positively affect fatalities in two ways. Each operates through heterogeneity between road users, and while the direct effect can be expected to evaporate with rising income, the indirect effect may prove to be an externality in that the relationship remains regardless of the level of income. Our model is supported by evidence from 79 countries between 1970 and 2000.     

Is there a link between alcohol consumption and the level of poverty?

In many developing countries, in addition to household income, there are a number of other socio-economic determinants of poverty. One such hidden socio-economic factor is alcohol consumption and some studies argue that there is a link between alcohol consumption and poverty. The main aim of this study is to measure the effects of alcohol consumption on the level of poverty in a systematic way. Using Sri Lanka as a case study, this article demonstrates that the consumption of various types of alcoholic beverages, particularly, the illegal beverages, has a significant positive association with the level of poverty. The findings of this study suggest that, in Sri Lanka, the consumption of illegal alcoholic beverages increases the likelihood of being in a poor household by 2–3%. The results of this study also find that households who are characterized as nonpoor but are just above the poverty line behave more like the poor rather than the nonpoor in terms of alcohol consumption. Some of the conclusions from this Sri Lankan case study can be applied to other developing countries.     

ESTIMATING CAUSAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ACCESS AND USE ON A BROAD SET OF RISKY BEHAVIORS: REGRESSION DISCONTINUITY EVIDENCE

A growing body of evidence suggests large increases in criminal behavior and mortality coinciding with a young adult's 21st birthday, when alcohol consumption becomes legal. The policy implications from these findings have focused on the need to reduce drinking among young people, potentially by enforcing stricter alcohol controls. However, mortality and arrests are relatively infrequent outcomes and relatively less is known about the intermediate and more prevalent consequences of legal access to alcohol at age 21. This paper uses the Add Health data combined with a regression discontinuity approach to examine the effects of alcohol access on sexual behavior, drunk driving, violence, and other outcomes. The results suggest relatively large effects that appear concentrated in men. The sample also allows some suggestive policy implications on whether changing the minimum drinking age may reduce these consequences. (JEL I12, I18)     

Motorcycle Helmet Laws and Motorcyclist Fatalities

We employ panel data over a 22-year period to study the impact of state laws mandating helmet use by motorcyclists. We find that helmet laws are associated with an average 29–33% decrease in per capita motorcyclist fatalities. However, since voluntary helmet wearing rates are higher in harsher climates, the efficacy of helmet laws varies directly with the warmth of a states climate. Repeal of helmet laws in the 1970s and subsequent re-adoption in the late 1980s and early 1990s have had roughly symmetrical effects on fatalities. Alcohol consumption and the number of police available to enforce traffic laws also significantly effect motorcyclist fatalities.     

The rebound effect: An evolutionary perspective

The rebound effect presents a major flaw in to energy conservation policies that aim to reduce energy consumption through energy efficiency development. Economics and energy related disciplines have thus far developed tools to measure such a phenomenon. This paper attempts to explain this seeming paradox using a thermodynamic-evolutionary theoretical framework in addition to the traditional economic approach. We here propose that evolutionary systems, such as biological or even economic systems, may rearrange themselves in a more complex fashion under the pressure of an increasing flux of energy, driven by the higher conversion rate of greater efficiency. Higher complexity, due to a greater energy density rate, counteracts the positive effects of energy efficiency. We investigated this hypothesis in the context of the road freight transport system and the productive structure. The qualitative analysis in this paper, further substantiated by figures, provides a link between the dynamics of production patterns and the effect of efficiency in the light of the macro-economic effects of increased energy demand. The analysis departs from a rigorous investigation of the actual energy efficiency evolution in the road freight transport system to develop through a survey of the subsequent worldwide economic revolution in the production system. It is then shown how outsourcing, the key feature of globalization, can be identified as the main source of traffic density growth. Finally, four paradigms are used to stress how the shift in the production system must be considered a leap in structural complexity that consequently serves to increase the frequency of components’ interactions.     

中国的利率管制与利率市场化

中国政府的金融约束政策在维系金融体系稳定、促进经济发展和金融深化等方面曾取得令世人瞩目的成就 ,但利率管制的金融约束政策也付出了一定的代价。随着中国加入WTO的临近和中国金融市场的开放 ,利率市场化已经成为历史的必然 ,然而目前实施利率市场化仍然存在着众多的约束。只有解除这些约束 ,中国利率市场化改革方可稳健地进行     

Death and prices

Most experts agree that alcohol abuse has been a major cause of Russia’s soaring mortality rate. But why have ever more Russians been drinking themselves to death? Some attribute this to despair in the face of painful economic change. I present evidence that, in fact, the surge in alcohol‐related deaths – and premature deaths in general – was fuelled by a dramatic fall in the real price of vodka, which dropped 77 percent between December 1990 and December 1994. Variation in vodka prices – both over time and across Russia’s regions – closely matches variation in mortality. Although market competition and weak excise collection help explain the fall in prices, the main reason appears to be populist price regulation during inflationary periods.     

Fiscal and Monetary Policies in a Transactions‐Based Endogenous Growth Model with Imperfect Competition

This paper's model is capable of explaining the empirical evidence on the mixed growth‐rate effects of fiscal and monetary policies and a nonlinear inflation–growth relation. When monopoly power in the product market is strong/weak, an increase in the money growth rate or the income tax rate promotes/reduces the output growth rate through lowering/raising the equilibrium gross markup and increasing/reducing the net rate of return on capital. The fact that money can generate a positive growth rate effect allows for the appearance of a nonlinear inflation–growth relation. Such a nonlinear relation cannot be caused by changes in the income tax rate.     

ALCOHOL REGULATION AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TOWARDS CHILDREN

In recent years, economists have paid much attention to the demand for alcohol and the negative externalities associated with excessive drinking. Largely ignored in the literature is the link between alcohol use and domestic violence. Given the established positive relationship between alcohol consumption and acts of violence, the purpose of this paper is to examine the role that changes in the determinants of the demand for alcohol may play in reducing the incidence of violence aimed at children. Data on violence come from the 1976 Physical Violence in American Families survey. We estimate a model in which violent outcomes are affected by the state excise tax rate on beer; illegal drug prices, and other regulatory variables such as availability measures and laws restricting the advertising of alcohol. Results show that increasing the tax on beer can be an effective policy tool in reducing violence. Laws designed to make obtaining beer more difficult also may be effective in reducing violence, while restrictions on advertising and increases in illegal drug prices have no effects.     

家庭消费碳排放影响因素及其变化趋势分析——以陕西省为例

以陕西省2003—2017年数据为样本,建立LMDI模型分析各因素对陕西省家庭消费碳排放的影响及其变化趋势。结果表明,家庭消费效应、住房面积效应和家庭规模效应是造成家庭碳排放上升的正向推动因素,而碳排放强度效应、消费抑制效应和居住密度效应对家庭碳排放具有负向影响;2003—2017年,碳排放强度效应呈“U”型变化趋势,家庭消费效应、家庭规模效应和住房面积效应呈上升趋势,消费抑制效应和居住密度效应呈下降趋势。政府制定碳减排政策时可从碳排放贡献率较大的家庭消费、住房面积和家庭规模等方面着手,有针对性地缓解日益增长的家庭消费碳排放。     

绿色消费研究进展及政策分析

绿色消费作为实现可持续发展的一种积极的消费理念,越来越多地受到政府、学者和居民的关注。在阐述绿色消费的概念和内涵基础上,文章归纳、阐述了国内外学者在绿色消费各个领域的研究成果,进而介绍我国在推进绿色消费上采取的典型政策措施。在此基础上,从政府、企业、消费者行为三个方面提出对策和建议,以推进绿色消费在我国的推广。