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Alcohol and student performance: Estimating the effect of legal access

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  • Lindo, Jason M.
  • Swensen, Isaac D.
  • Waddell, Glen R.

Abstract

We consider the effect of legal access to alcohol on student achievement. Our preferred approach identifies the effect through changes in one's performance after gaining legal access to alcohol, controlling flexibly for the expected evolution of grades as one makes progress towards their degree. We also report RD-based estimates but argue that an RD design is not well suited to the research question in our setting. We find that students’ grades fall below their expected levels upon being able to drink legally, but by less than previously documented. We also show that there are effects on women and that the effects are persistent. Using the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we show that students drink more often after legal access but do not consume more drinks on days on which they drink.

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Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of Health Economics.

Volume (Year): 32 (2013)
Issue (Month): 1 ()
Pages: 22-32

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Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:32:y:2013:i:1:p:22-32
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505560

Keywords: Alcohol; Post-secondary education; Minimum legal drinking age;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
  • 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

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Cited by:

  1. Lindo, Jason M. & Swensen, Isaac D. & Waddell, Glen R., 2013. "Alcohol and student performance: Estimating the effect of legal access," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 22-32.
  2. Jason M. Lindo & Isaac D. Swensen & Glen R. Waddell, 2011. "Are Big-Time Sports a Threat to Student Achievement?," NBER Working Papers 17677, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  3. Jason M. Lindo & Peter Siminski & Oleg Yerokhin, 2014. "Breaking the Link Between Legal Access to Alcohol and Motor Vehicle Accidents: Evidence from New South Wales," NBER Working Papers 19857, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  4. Carpenter, Christopher S. & Dobkin, Carlos & Warman, Casey, 2014. "The Mechanisms of Alcohol Control," IZA Discussion Papers 8720, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

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