Alcohol, violence and injury-induced mortality: Evidence from a modern-day prohibition

Kai Barron, Charles D. H. Parry, Debbie Bradshaw, Rob Dorrington, Pam Groenewald, Ria Laubscher and Richard Matzopoulos

Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economics of Change from WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Abstract: This paper evaluates the impact of a sudden and unexpected nation-wide alcohol sales ban in South Africa. We find that this policy causally reduced injury-induced mortality in the country by at least 14% during the five weeks of the ban. We argue that this estimate constitutes a lower bound on the true impact of alcohol on injury-induced mortality. We also document a sharp drop in violent crimes, indicating a tight link between alcohol and aggressive behavior in society. Our results underscore the severe harm that alcohol can cause and point towards a role for policy measures that target the heaviest drinkers in society.

Keywords: alcohol; mortality; economics; health; crime; South Africa; COVID-19; violence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I18 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-law
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Alcohol, Violence, and Injury-Induced Mortality: Evidence from a Modern-Day Prohibition (2024)
Journal Article: Alcohol, Violence and Injury-Induced Mortality: Evidence from a Modern-Day Prohibition (2022)
Working Paper: Alcohol, Violence and Injury-Induced Mortality: Evidence from a Modern-Day Prohibition (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:wzbeoc:spii2022301

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