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The American Temperance Movement and Market-Based Violence

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  • Emily G. Owens

Abstract

The net impact of market legality on crime is ambiguous if consumption of the illegally traded good causes violence. With modern crime data, I show that drug control policy that increases market-based violence while reducing violence associated with intoxication raises homicide rates for individuals in their 20s relative to older and younger people. Using a state-level panel of age-specific homicides from 1900 to 1940, when many states and eventually the federal government criminalized alcohol markets, I demonstrate that the spread of the temperance movement similarly compressed the age distribution of homicide victims, primarily in northern, urban states with large immigrant populations.

Suggested Citation

  • Emily G. Owens, 2014. "The American Temperance Movement and Market-Based Violence," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 16(2), pages 433-472.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:amlawe:v:16:y:2014:i:2:p:433-472.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/aler/ahu009
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lindo, Jason M. & Padilla-Romo, María, 2018. "Kingpin approaches to fighting crime and community violence: Evidence from Mexico's drug war," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 253-268.
    2. Jacks, David S. & Pendakur, Krishna & Shigeoka, Hitoshi, 2023. "Urban mortality and the repeal of federal prohibition," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Juan Camilo Castillo & Daniel Mejía & Pascual Restrepo, 2020. "Scarcity without Leviathan: The Violent Effects of Cocaine Supply Shortages in the Mexican Drug War," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(2), pages 269-286, May.
    4. Zhang, Xiaohan, 2020. "Parents in Temperance," MPRA Paper 101038, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Anna Aizer & Gabrielle Grafton & Santiago Pérez, 2025. "Daughters as Safety Net? Family Responses to Parental Employment Shocks: Evidence from Alcohol Prohibition," NBER Working Papers 33346, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Dara Lee Luca & Emily Owens & Gunjan Sharma, 2019. "The effectiveness and effects of alcohol regulation: evidence from India," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-26, December.
    7. Francis-Tan, Andrew & Tan, Cheryl & Zhang, Ruhan, 2018. "School spirit: Exploring the long-term effects of the U.S. temperance movement on educational attainment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 162-169.
    8. Howard Bodenhorn, 2016. "Blind Tigers and Red-Tape Cocktails: Liquor Control and Homicide in Late-Nineteenth-Century South Carolina," NBER Working Papers 22980, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Jeffrey Brinkman & David Mok-Lamme, 2017. "Not in My Backyard? Not So Fast. The Effect of Marijuana Legalization on Neighborhood Crime," Working Papers 17-19, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

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