Does the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Save Lives?

Jeffrey A Miron () and Elina Tetelbaum

No 13257, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) is widely believed to save lives by reducing traffic fatalities among underage drivers. Further, the Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act, which pressured all states to adopt an MLDA of 21, is regarded as having contributed enormously to this life saving effect. This paper challenges both claims. State-level panel data for the past 30 years show that any nationwide impact of the MLDA is driven by states that increased their MLDA prior to any inducement from the federal government. Even in early adopting states, the impact of the MLDA did not persist much past the year of adoption. The MLDA appears to have only a minor impact on teen drinking.

JEL-codes: H11 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-law and nep-reg
Date: 2007-07
Note: LE PE
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