Death and prices |
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Authors: | Daniel Treisman |
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Institution: | Department of Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. E‐mail: Treisman@polisci.ucla.edu |
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Abstract: | 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. |
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Keywords: | J31 J24 I10 I18 P36 P35 Alcohol Russia mortality price regulation |
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