A Pint for a Pound? Reevaluating the Relationship Between Minimum Drinking Age Laws and Birth Outcomes

Alan Barreca and Marianne Page

No 1220, Working Papers from Tulane University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Previous research documents a substantive, positive, correlation between the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) and birth outcomes. Using an improved empirical framework, we reach a different conclusion: there is little or no relationship between the minimum legal drinking age and the health of infants born to young mothers. We do, however, find that MLDA policies are associated with the sex ratio at birth. Our estimates suggest that raising the MLDA may reduce fetal losses.

Keywords: alcohol; minimum drinking age; infant health; birthweight; fetal death (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2012-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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http://repec.tulane.edu/RePEc/pdf/tul1220.pdf First Version, October 2012 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tul:wpaper:1220

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