Do Consumers Exploit Commitment Opportunities? Evidence from Natural Experiments Involving Liquor Consumption

B. Douglas Bernheim, Jonathan Meer and Neva K. Novarro

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2016, vol. 8, issue 4, 41-69

Abstract: This paper provides evidence concerning the extent to which consumers of liquor employ commitment devices. One widely recommended commitment strategy is to regulate alcohol consumption by deliberately manipulating availability. The paper assesses the prevalence of the "availability strategy" by evaluating the effects of policies that would influence its effectiveness--specifically, changes in allowable Sunday sales hours. It finds that consumers increase their liquor consumption in response to extended Sunday on-premises sales hours, but not in response to extended off-premises sales hours. The latter finding is inconsistent with widespread use of the availability strategy.

JEL-codes: D12 H75 K39 L66 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
Note: DOI: 10.1257/pol.20130351
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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