Mobility restrictions and alcohol use during lockdown: "a still and dry pandemic for the many"?

Martina Celidoni, Joan Costa-Font and Luca Salmasi

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Unexpected mobility disruptions during lockdown during the first wave of COVID-19 became ’tipping points’ with the potential to alter pre-pandemic routines sensitive to socialisation. This paper investigates the impact of lockdown exposure on alcohol consumption. We document two findings using information from the Google Mobility Report and longitudinal data from the Understanding Society survey (UKHLS) in the United Kingdom. First, we find a sharp reduction in both actual mobility and alcohol use (consistent with a ”still and dry pandemic for the many” hypothesis). However, we document an increase in alcohol use among heavy drinkers, implying a split behavioural response to COVID-19 mobility restrictions based on alcohol use prior to the pandemic. Second, using the predictions of the prevalence-response elasticity theory, we find that the pandemic's reduction in social contacts is responsible for a 2.8 percentage point reduction in drinking among men.

Keywords: health behaviours; lockdown; mobility restrictions; alcohol addiction; routines; mobility; difference in differences; Covid-19; coronavirus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 I30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 13 pages
Date: 2023-08-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ger and nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in Economics and Human Biology, 1, August, 2023, 50. ISSN: 1570-677X

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/119467/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Mobility restrictions and alcohol use during lockdown: “A still and dry pandemic for the many”? (2023)
Working Paper: Mobility Restrictions and Alcohol Use during Lockdown: “A Still and Dry Pandemic for the Many"? (2023)
Working Paper: Mobility Restrictions and Alcohol Use during Lockdown: 'A Still and Dry Pandemic for the Many'? (2023)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:119467

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().