Short- and Long-Term Effects of Adolescent Alcohol Access: Evidence from Denmark

Nabanita Datta Gupta and Anton Nilsson ()
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Anton Nilsson: Lund University and Aarhus University

Economics Working Papers from Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University

Abstract: We exploit changes in minimum legal alcohol purchasing ages in Denmark to estimate effects on health, as well as on human capital formation. In contrast to previous literature on minimum legal drinking ages, we do not only consider outcomes in the short run, but also several years down the road. Employing a difference-in-differences approach, we bring comprehensive evidence on the effects of three reforms, which affected alcohol availability along different margins – 1) establishing an off-premise alcohol purchase age of 15 (1998), 2) raising the off-premise alcohol purchase age to 16 (2004), and 3) increasing the purchase age of beverages exceeding 16.5% in alcohol content from 16 to 18 (2011). Our findings show significant impacts on injuries in both the short and long run. Effects on rarer outcomes (alcohol poisonings and intoxications, and mortality) are mostly insignificant, and there is no clear evidence that educational attainment would be affected.

Keywords: minimum legal drinking ages; injuries; alcohol-related conditions; difference-in-differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35
Date: 2017-05-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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