Minimum Unit Pricing, Alcohol Consumption and Infant Health: Evidence from the Alice Springs Liquor Supply Plan

Steve Guthridge (), Stefanie Schurer () and Paige J. Taylor
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Steve Guthridge: Menzies School of Health Research
Stefanie Schurer: University of Sydney
Paige J. Taylor: University of Sydney

No 18201, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Restricting purchases or establishing a minimum (floor) price for low-cost, high-strength alcoholic beverages is an increasingly popular policy used to address problem drinking and alcohol-related harm. We study the consumption and short-term health-at-birth impacts of the 2006 Alice Springs Liquor Supply Plan (LSP) which effectively doubled the minimum per-unit price of alcohol by prohibiting sales of large containers of wine. Net alcohol consumption per person dropped by 12%. Both price and consumption remained unaffected in control regions. We estimated a price elasticity of demand for the cheapest drink in the market as low as -0.2. While this change decreased the total volume of pure alcohol consumed, it did not achieve a key policy objective to improve infant health outcomes among babies most at-risk for alcohol-related harm. We discuss mechanisms and potential policy conclusions.

Keywords: birth outcomes; health behaviours; alcohol regulation; difference-in-difference estimation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I14 L51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ltv and nep-mic
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