Long-Term Effects of Minimum Legal Drinking Age Laws on Adult Alcohol Use and Driving Fatalities
Abstract
We examine whether adults’ alcohol consumption and traffic fatalities are associated with the legal drinking environment those adults experienced between the ages of 18 and 20. We find that the difference between an environment in which a person was never allowed to drink legally at those ages and one in which a person could always drink legally is associated with a 20–33 percent increase in alcohol consumption and a 10 percent increase in fatal accidents for adult males. There are no statistically significant or practically important associations between the youths’ legal drinking environment and adult females’ alcohol consumption and driving fatalities.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by University of Chicago Press in its journal The Journal of Law and Economics.
Volume (Year): 54 (2011)
Issue (Month): 2 ()
Pages: 325 - 363
Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JLE/
Related research
Keywords:Other versions of this item:
- Robert Kaestner & Benjamin Yarnoff, 2009. "Long Term Effects of Minimum Legal Drinking Age Laws on Adult Alcohol Use and Driving Fatalities," NBER Working Papers 15439, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Production
- I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
- K32 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Environmental, Health, and Safety Law
References
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