Would a rational underage binge-drink?

Amnon Levy

Economics Working Papers from School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia

Abstract: This paper provides a utility-based definition of binge drinking and examines the compatibility of this phenomenon with rational decision making. Prohibition of young people’s consumption of alcohol is frequently violated with binge-drinking in groups. The analysis considers the roles of peer-pressure, full price of alcohol and crowding in underage group-drinking sessions and identifies the conditions for binge-drinking by expected utility maximizing members. Rational binge-drinking occurs when the impact of the peer-pressure on the individual member’s utility exceeds the loss of utility from the forgone spending on all other goods associated with the expected full marginal cost of consuming alcohol.

Keywords: Alcohol; Minimum Age; Peer Pressure; Rationality; Binge Drinking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-upt
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uow:depec1:wp13-03

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