The Minimum Legal Drinking Age and Crime

Christopher Carpenter and Carlos Dobkin

Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series from Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz

Abstract: We use variation from the minimum legal drinking age to estimate the causal effect of access to alcohol on crime. Using a census of arrests in California and a regression discontinuity design, we find that individuals just over age 21 are 5.9% more likely to be arrested than individuals just under 21. This increase is mostly due to assaults, alcohol-related offenses, and nuisance crimes. These results suggest that policies that restrict access to alcohol have the potential to substantially reduce crime.

Keywords: Alcoholism; Alcohol Use and Health; Pediatric; Substance Misuse; Behavioral and Social Science; Underage Drinking; Violence Research; Stroke; Cancer; Cardiovascular; Oral and gastrointestinal; Good Health and Well Being; Applied Economics; Econometrics; Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-05-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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