Rational Alcohol Addiction: Evidence from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey
Abstract
Alcohol consumption in Russia is legendary and has been reported to be the third leading cause of death in the former Soviet Union after heart disease and cancer. Are Russian alcohol consumers rational addicts? This paper uses eight rounds of a nationally representative Russian survey spanning the period 1994-2003 to estimate a rational addiction (RA) model for alcohol consumption. This is done in a panel data setting as well as on a wave by wave basis. The profile of the Russian drinker finds a huge difference between males and females and the model is estimated by gender. We do not find support for the RA model in Russia for women. For men, although we find that some implications of the RA model are satisfied, we fail to endorse the model empirically on grounds of implausible negative estimates of the discount rate.Download Info
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.Bibliographic Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 2134.Length: 37 pages
Date of creation: May 2006
Date of revision:
Publication status: published in: Health Economics, 2006, 15 (9), 893-914
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2134
Contact details of provider:
Postal: IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany
Phone: +49 228 3894 223
Fax: +49 228 3894 180
Web page: http://www.iza.org
Order Information:
Postal: IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany
Email:
Related research
Keywords: liquor consumption; rational addiction; panel data;Other versions of this item:
- Badi H. Baltagi & Ingo Geishecker, 2006. "Rational alcohol addiction: evidence from the Russian longitudinal monitoring survey," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(9), pages 893-914.
- Badi H. Baltagi & Ingo Geishecker, 2006. "Rational Alcohol Addiction: Evidence from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 81, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
- C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Longitudinal Data; Spatial Time Series
- D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
- I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2006-05-27 (All new papers)
- NEP-HEA-2006-05-27 (Health Economics)
- NEP-TRA-2006-05-27 (Transition Economics)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Brian S. Ferguson, 2000. "Interpreting the rational addiction model," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(7), pages 587-598.
- Akerlof, George A, 1991. "Procrastination and Obedience," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 1-19, May.
- Nilss Olekalns & Peter Bardsley, 1994.
"Rational Addiction to Caffeine: an Analysis of Coffee Consumption,"
Working Papers
1994.21, School of Economics, La Trobe University.
- Olekalns, Nilss & Bardsley, Peter, 1996. "Rational Addiction to Caffeine: An Analysis of Coffee Consumption," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(5), pages 1100-1104, October.
- Nilss Olekalns & Peter Bardsley, 1994. "Rational Addiction to Caffeine: an Analysis of Coffee Consumption," Working Papers 1994.21, School of Economics, La Trobe University.
- Athanasios Orphanides & David Zervos, 1992.
"Rational addiction with learning and regret,"
Finance and Economics Discussion Series
216, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
- Orphanides, Athanasios & Zervos, David, 1995. "Rational Addiction with Learning and Regret," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(4), pages 739-58, August.
- Garcia, Jaume & Labeaga, Jose M, 1996. "Alternative Approaches to Modelling Zero Expenditure: An Application to Spanish Demand for Tobacco," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 58(3), pages 489-506, August.
- Badi H. Baltagi & James M. Griffin, 2002. "Rational addiction to alcohol: panel data analysis of liquor consumption," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(6), pages 485-491.
- Andrew M. Jones & José M. Labeaga, 2003. "Individual heterogeneity and censoring in panel data estimates of tobacco expenditure," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(2), pages 157-177.
- Jonathan Gruber & Botond Koszegi, 2000. "Is Addiction "Rational"? Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 7507, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Paul R. Gregory & Manouchehr Mokhtari & Wolfram Schrettl, 1999. "Do The Russians Really Save That Much? - Alternate Estimates From The Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(4), pages 694-703, November.
- Michael Grossman & Frank J. Chaloupka & Charles C. Brown, 1999.
"The Demand for Cocaine by Young Adults: A Rational Addiction Approach,"
NBER Working Papers
5713, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Grossman, Michael & Chaloupka, Frank J., 1998. "The demand for cocaine by young adults: a rational addiction approach," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 427-474, August.
- Gary S. Becker & Michael Grossman & Kevin M. Murphy, 1994.
"An Empirical Analysis of Cigarette Addiction,"
NBER Working Papers
3322, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Becker, Gary S & Grossman, Michael & Murphy, Kevin M, 1994. "An Empirical Analysis of Cigarette Addiction," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 396-418, June.
- Gary S. Becker & Michael Grossman & Kevin M. Murphy, 1990. "An Empirical Analysis of Cigarette Addiction," University of Chicago - George G. Stigler Center for Study of Economy and State 61, Chicago - Center for Study of Economy and State.
- Mroz, Thomas A & Popkin, Barry M, 1995. "Poverty and the Economic Transition in the Russian Federation," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(1), pages 1-31, October.
- Grossman, Michael & Chaloupka, Frank J & Sirtalan, Ismail, 1998.
"An Empirical Analysis of Alcohol Addiction: Results from the Monitoring the Future Panels,"
Economic Inquiry,
Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(1), pages 39-48, January.
- Michael Grossman & Frank J. Chaloupka & Ismail Sirtalan, 1995. "An Empirical Analysis of Alcohol Addiction: Results from the Monitoring the Future Panels," NBER Working Papers 5200, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Frank J. Chaloupka, 1991.
"Rational Addictive Behavior and Cigarette Smoking,"
NBER Working Papers
3268, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Chaloupka, Frank, 1991. "Rational Addictive Behavior and Cigarette Smoking," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(4), pages 722-42, August.
- Henry Saffer & Frank Chaloupka, 1995.
"The Demand for Illicit Drugs,"
NBER Working Papers
5238, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Saffer, Henry & Chaloupka, Frank, 1999. "The Demand for Illicit Drugs," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(3), pages 401-11, July.
- Baltagi, Badi H & Griffin, James M, 2001. "The Econometrics of Rational Addiction: The Case of Cigarettes," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(4), pages 449-54, October.
- Mullahy, John & Sindelar, Jody L, 1991. "Gender Differences in Labor Market Effects of Alcoholism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 161-65, May.
- Labeaga, Jose M., 1999. "A double-hurdle rational addiction model with heterogeneity: Estimating the demand for tobacco," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 49-72, November.
- Gary S. Becker & Kevin M. Murphy, 1986.
"A Theory of Rational Addiction,"
University of Chicago - George G. Stigler Center for Study of Economy and State
41, Chicago - Center for Study of Economy and State.
- Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "A Theory of Rational Addiction," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 675-700, August.
- Christopher Auld & Paul Grootendorst, 2001.
"An Empirical Analysis of Milk Addiction,"
Working Papers
2001-17, Department of Economics, University of Calgary, revised 05 Dec 2001.
- Auld, M. Christopher & Grootendorst, Paul, 2004. "An empirical analysis of milk addiction," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1117-1133, November.
- Pollak, Robert A, 1970. "Habit Formation and Dynamic Demand Functions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(4), pages 745-63, Part I Ju.
- Pollak, Robert A., 1976. "Habit formation and long-run utility functions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 272-297, October.
- Newell, Andrew & Reilly, Barry, 1996. "The gender wage gap in Russia: Some empirical evidence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 337-356, October.
- Winston, Gordon C., 1980. "Addiction and backsliding : A theory of compulsive consumption," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 1(4), pages 295-324, December.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Laporte A & Karimova A & Ferguson B, 2009. "Quantile Regression Analysis of the Rational Addiction Model: Making unobservable heterogeneity observable," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/18, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
- Luca Bossi & Pedro Gomis-Porqueras & David L. Kelly, 2007. "Optimal Second Best Taxation of Addictive Goods," Working Papers 0708, University of Miami, Department of Economics.
- Linz, Susan J. & Semykina, Anastasia, 2010. "Perceptions of economic insecurity: Evidence from Russia," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 357-385, December.
- Herzfeld, Thomas & Huffman, Sonya Kostova & Oskam, Arie J. & Rizov, Marian, 2009.
"Changes in Food, Alcohol and Cigarettes Consumption during Transition: Evidence from Russia,"
2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China
49941, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
- Herzfeld, Thomas & Huffman, Sonya Kostova & Oskam, Arie J. & Rizov, Marian, 2009. "Changes in Food, Alcohol and Cigarettes Consumption during Transition: Evidence from Russia," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49239, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
- Staudigel, Matthias, 2011. "How (much) do food prices contribute to obesity in Russia?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 133-147, March.
- Herzfeld, Thomas & Huffman, Sonya K. & Rizov, Marian, 2009. "The Dynamics of the Russian Lifestyle During Transition: Changes in Food, Alcohol and Cigarette Consumption," Staff General Research Papers 13116, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
- Irina Denisova, 2009. "Mortality in Russia: Microanalysis," Working Papers w0128, Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR).
Lists
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2134For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Mark Fallak).
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

