The Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign and Russia's Mortality Crisis

Jay Bhattacharya (), Christina Gathmann and Grant Miller ()
Additional contact information
Jay Bhattacharya: Stanford University
Grant Miller: Stanford University

No 6783, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Political and economic transition is often blamed for Russia's 40% surge in deaths between 1990 and 1994 (the "Russian Mortality Crisis"). Highlighting that increases in mortality occurred primarily among alcohol related causes and among working-age men (the heaviest drinkers), this paper investigates an alternative explanation: the demise of the 1985-1988 Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign. We use archival sources to build a new oblast-year data set spanning 1970-2000 and find that: (1) The campaign was associated with substantially fewer campaign year deaths, (2) Oblasts with larger reductions in alcohol consumption and mortality during the campaign experienced larger transition era increases, and (3) Other former Soviet states and Eastern European countries exhibit similar mortality patterns commensurate with their campaign exposure. The campaign's end explains a large share of the mortality crisis, suggesting that Russia's transition to capitalism and democracy was not as lethal as commonly suggested.

Keywords: mortality; transition; alcohol; Russia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I15 I18 P35 P36 P37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 70 pages
Date: 2012-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis, nep-cwa, nep-dem, nep-hea and nep-tra
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2013, 5 (2), 232-60

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Gorbachev Anti-alcohol Campaign and Russia's Mortality Crisis (2013)
Journal Article: The Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign and Russia’s Mortality Crisis (2012)
Working Paper: The Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign and Russia's Mortality Crisis (2012)
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