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

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  • B. Douglas Bernheim
  • Jonathan Meer
  • Neva K. Novarro

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.

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  • B. Douglas Bernheim & Jonathan Meer & Neva K. Novarro, 2016. "Do Consumers Exploit Commitment Opportunities? Evidence from Natural Experiments Involving Liquor Consumption," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 41-69, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:8:y:2016:i:4:p:41-69
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/pol.20130351
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Houser, Daniel & Schunk, Daniel & Winter, Joachim & Xiao, Erte, 2018. "Temptation and commitment in the laboratory," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 329-344.
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    11. B. Douglas Bernheim & Antonio Rangel, 2004. "Addiction and Cue-Triggered Decision Processes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1558-1590, December.
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    13. Michael F. Lovenheim & Daniel P. Steefel, 2011. "Do blue laws save lives? The effect of Sunday alcohol sales bans on fatal vehicle accidents," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 798-820, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hyungsuk Byun & Barry Scholnick, 2017. "Spatial Commitment Devices and Addictive Goods: Evidence from the Removal of Slot Machines from Bars," Working Papers 17-34, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    2. Griffith, Rachel & O'Connell, Martin & Smith, Kate & Cherchye, Laurens & De Rock, Bram & Vermeulen, Frederic, 2017. "A new year, a new you? Heterogeneity and self-control in food purchases," CEPR Discussion Papers 12499, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Nakamura, Ryota & Yao, Ying, 2021. "Does Restricting the Availability of Cigarettes Reduce Smoking?," Discussion paper series HIAS-E-108, Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University.
    4. Jin, Lawrence & Kang, Minwook, 2023. "Human-capital investments as a commitment device," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    5. Matthias Bäuml & Jan Marcus & Thomas Siedler, 2023. "Health effects of a ban on late‐night alcohol sales," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(1), pages 65-89, January.
    6. Hinnosaar, Marit & Liu, Elaine M., 2022. "Malleability of Alcohol Consumption: Evidence from Migrants," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    7. Hinnosaar, Marit, 2016. "Time inconsistency and alcohol sales restrictions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 108-131.
    8. Avdic, Daniel & von Hinke, Stephanie, 2021. "Extending alcohol retailers’ opening hours: Evidence from Sweden," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    9. Avdic, Daniel & von Hinke, Stephanie, 2021. "Extending alcohol retailers’ opening hours: Evidence from Sweden," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    10. Hinnosaar, Marit & Liu, Elaine, 2020. "Persistence in alcohol consumption: evidence from migrants," CEPR Discussion Papers 15196, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Lawrence Jin & Minwook Kang, 2022. "Addiction, present‐bias, and self‐restraint," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(1), pages 138-159, July.
    12. Itzhak Ben-David & Marieke Bos, 2021. "Impulsive Consumption and Financial Well-Being: Evidence from an Increase in the Availability of Alcohol [Identification of causal effects using instrumental variables]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(5), pages 2608-2647.
    13. Gross, Jeremie & Guirkinger, Catherine & Platteau, Jean-Philippe, 2020. "Buy as you need: Nutrition and food storage imperfections," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • K39 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Other
    • L66 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Food; Beverages; Cosmetics; Tobacco

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    1. Do Consumers Exploit Commitment Opportunities? Evidence from Natural Experiments Involving Liquor Consumption (American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 2016) in ReplicationWiki

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