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

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

No 17762, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

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: D03 D12 H31 I10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-01
Note: PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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