IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cca/wpaper/346.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Effects of Merit-Based Financial Aid on Drinking in College

Author

Listed:
  • Benjamin W. Cowan
  • Dustin R. White

Abstract

We study the effect of state-level merit aid programs (such as Georgia's HOPE scholarship) on alcohol consumption among college students. Such programs have the potential to affect drinking by (1) raising students' disposable income and (2) increasing the incentive to maintain a minimum GPA in college (in order to retain the scholarship). Using two independent datasets, we find that the presence of a merit aid program in one's state leads to an overall increase in drinking among men but not among women. This increase is concentrated among individuals who are above the minimum GPA threshold necessary for the scholarship; individuals who are below the threshold GPA experience no increase in their alcohol use. Our identification strategy is supported by the finding that no change in drinking is observed for non-students in states that adopt merit-aid programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin W. Cowan & Dustin R. White, 2014. "The Effects of Merit-Based Financial Aid on Drinking in College," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 346, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    • Handle: RePEc:cca:wpaper:346
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.carloalberto.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/no.346.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liam Delaney & Colm Harmon & Patrick Wall, 2008. "Behavioral Economics And Drinking Behavior: Preliminary Results From An Irish College Study," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 46(1), pages 29-36, January.
    2. Cowan, Benjamin W., 2011. "Forward-thinking teens: The effects of college costs on adolescent risky behavior," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 813-825, October.
    3. Hickman, Daniel C., 2009. "The effects of higher education policy on the location decision of individuals: Evidence from Florida's Bright Futures Scholarship Program," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 553-562, September.
    4. Susan Dynarski, 2004. "The New Merit Aid," NBER Chapters, in: College Choices: The Economics of Where to Go, When to Go, and How to Pay For It, pages 63-100, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Hayek, F. A., 2012. "Hayek on Hayek," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226321202 edited by Kresge, Stephen & Wenar, Leif.
    6. Michael Kremer & Dan Levy, 2008. "Peer Effects and Alcohol Use among College Students," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 189-206, Summer.
    7. Gary T. Henry & Ross Rubenstein, 2002. "Paying for grades: Impact of merit-based financial aid on educational quality," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(1), pages 93-109.
    8. Carrell, Scott E. & Hoekstra, Mark & West, James E., 2011. "Does drinking impair college performance? Evidence from a regression discontinuity approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1-2), pages 54-62, February.
    9. Scott Adams & McKinley L. Blackburn & Chad D. Cotti, 2012. "Minimum Wages and Alcohol-Related Traffic Fatalities among Teens," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(3), pages 828-840, August.
    10. Michael Grossman & Chee-Ruey Hsieh (ed.), 2001. "The Economic Analysis of Substance Use and Abuse," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2347.
    11. Christopher Cornwell & David B. Mustard & Deepa J. Sridhar, 2006. "The Enrollment Effects of Merit-Based Financial Aid: Evidence from Georgia's HOPE Program," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(4), pages 761-786, October.
    12. Thomas S. Dee & Linda A. Jackson, 1999. "Who Loses HOPE? Attrition from Georgia’s College Scholarship Program," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 66(2), pages 379-390, October.
    13. Larry D. Singell Jr. & Glen R. Waddell & Bradley R. Curs, 2006. "HOPE for the Pell? Institutional Effects in the Intersection of Merit-Based and Need-Based Aid," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 73(1), pages 79-99, July.
    14. Ruhm, Christopher J. & Black, William E., 2002. "Does drinking really decrease in bad times?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 659-678, July.
    15. Susan Dynarski, 2008. "Building the Stock of College-Educated Labor," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(3), pages 576-610.
    16. Larry D. Singell Jr. & Glen R. Waddell & Bradley R. Curs, 2006. "HOPE for the Pell? Institutional Effects in the Intersection of Merit-Based and Need-Based Aid," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(1), pages 79-99, July.
    17. Jenny Williams & Lisa Powell & Henry Wechsler, 2003. "Does alcohol consumption reduce human capital accumulation? Evidence from the College Alcohol Study," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(10), pages 1227-1239.
    18. David L. Sjoquist & John V. Winters, 2015. "State Merit Aid Programs and College Major: A Focus on STEM," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(4), pages 973-1006.
    19. Eisenberg, Daniel & Golberstein, Ezra & Whitlock, Janis L., 2014. "Peer effects on risky behaviors: New evidence from college roommate assignments," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 126-138.
    20. Thomas S. Dee & Linda A. Jackson, 1999. "Who Loses HOPE? Attrition from Georgia’s College Scholarship Program," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 66(2), pages 379-390, October.
    21. Christopher M. Cornwell & Kyung Hee Lee & David B. Mustard, 2005. "Student Responses to Merit Scholarship Retention Rules," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(4), pages 895-917.
    22. David L. Sjoquist & John V. Winters, 2015. "State Merit-Based Financial Aid Programs And College Attainment," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 364-390, June.
    23. Timothy G. Conley & Christopher R. Taber, 2011. "Inference with "Difference in Differences" with a Small Number of Policy Changes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 113-125, February.
    24. Carpenter Christopher S & Kloska Deborah D & O'Malley Patrick & Johnston Lloyd, 2007. "Alcohol Control Policies and Youth Alcohol Consumption: Evidence from 28 Years of Monitoring the Future," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-23, May.
    25. Christopher Cornwell & David B. Mustard, 2007. "Merit-Based College Scholarships and Car Sales," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 2(2), pages 133-151, February.
    26. Balsa, Ana I. & Giuliano, Laura M. & French, Michael T., 2011. "The effects of alcohol use on academic achievement in high school," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 1-15, February.
    27. Sara Markowitz & John Tauras, 2009. "Substance use among adolescent students with consideration of budget constraints," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 423-446, December.
    28. Jon Nelson, 2008. "How Similar are Youth and Adult Alcohol Behaviors? Panel Results for Excise Taxes and Outlet Density," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 36(1), pages 89-104, March.
    29. Christopher M. Cornwell & Kyung Hee Lee & David B. Mustard, 2005. "Student Responses to Merit Retention Rules," HEW 0501001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    30. Bridget Terry Long, 2004. "How do Financial Aid Policies Affect Colleges?: The Institutional Impact of the Georgia HOPE Scholarship," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(4).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Charles Courtemanche & James Marton & Benjamin Ukert & Aaron Yelowitz & Daniela Zapata, 2018. "Early Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Health Care Access, Risky Health Behaviors, and Self‐Assessed Health," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(3), pages 660-691, January.
    2. Katare, Bhagyashree, 2021. "Do low-cost economic incentives motivate healthy behavior?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    3. Dustin R. White & Benjamin W. Cowan & Jadrian J. Wooten, 2019. "March Madness: Ncaa Tournament Participation And College Alcohol Use," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(3), pages 449-461, July.
    4. Braga, Breno & Malkova, Olga, 2020. "Hope for the Family: The Effects of College Costs on Maternal Labor Supply," IZA Discussion Papers 12958, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Breno Braga & Olga Malkova, 2024. "Time to Grow Up? Adult Children as Determinants of Parental Labor Supply," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 230-262.
    6. Elena Andreyeva & Benjamin Ukert, 2018. "The impact of the minimum wage on health," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 337-375, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David L. Sjoquist & John V. Winters, 2015. "State Merit-Based Financial Aid Programs And College Attainment," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 364-390, June.
    2. Youngwan Song & Ross Rubenstein, 2024. "How Does Reducing Merit-Aid Generosity and Certainty Affect College Choices? Evidence from Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 65(1), pages 1-41, February.
    3. David L. Sjoquist & John V. Winters, 2015. "State Merit Aid Programs and College Major: A Focus on STEM," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(4), pages 973-1006.
    4. Sjoquist, David L. & Winters, John V., 2013. "The effects of HOPE on post-college retention in the Georgia workforce," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 479-490.
    5. Welch, Jilleah G., 2014. "HOPE for community college students: The impact of merit aid on persistence, graduation, and earnings," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-20.
    6. Rajashri Chakrabarti & Nicole Gorton & Joydeep Roy, 2018. "Getting ahead by spending more? Local community response to state merit aid programs," Staff Reports 872, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    7. Sjoquist, David L. & Winters, John V., 2014. "Merit aid and post-college retention in the state," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 39-50.
    8. David Sjoquist & John Winters, 2015. "The effect of Georgia’s HOPE scholarship on college major: a focus on STEM," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-29, December.
    9. Melissa Whatley, 2019. "Study Abroad Participation: An Unintended Consequence of State Merit-Aid Programs?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 60(7), pages 905-930, November.
    10. Dennis A. Kramer & Justin C. Ortagus & T. Austin Lacy, 2018. "Tuition-Setting Authority and Broad-Based Merit Aid: The Effect of Policy Intersection on Pricing Strategies," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 59(4), pages 489-518, June.
    11. Eric Bettinger & Oded Gurantz & Laura Kawano & Bruce Sacerdote, 2016. "The Long Run Impacts of Merit Aid: Evidence from California’s Cal Grant," NBER Working Papers 22347, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Jeffrey A. Groen, 2011. "Building Knowledge Stocks Locally," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 25(4), pages 316-329, November.
    13. Todd R. Jones & Daniel Kreisman & Ross Rubenstein & Cynthia Searcy & Rachana Bhatt, 2022. "The Effects of Financial Aid Loss on Persistence and Graduation: A Multi-Dimensional Regression Discontinuity Approach," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 17(2), pages 206-231, Spring.
    14. Joshua Angrist & Philip Oreopoulos & Tyler Williams, 2014. "When Opportunity Knocks, Who Answers?: New Evidence on College Achievement Awards," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 49(3), pages 572-610.
    15. Fitzpatrick, Maria D. & Jones, Damon, 2016. "Post-baccalaureate migration and merit-based scholarships," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 155-172.
    16. Scott-Clayton, Judith & Zafar, Basit, 2019. "Financial aid, debt management, and socioeconomic outcomes: Post-college effects of merit-based aid," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 68-82.
    17. Carruthers, Celeste K. & Özek, Umut, 2016. "Losing HOPE: Financial aid and the line between college and work," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-15.
    18. Noel D. Campbell & Frank Smith, 2009. "Merit-Based Scholarship ``Over-Awards'' and Home Prices," Public Finance Review, , vol. 37(2), pages 198-216, March.
    19. Gregory B. Upton, 2016. "The Effects of Merit-Based Scholarships on Educational Outcomes," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 235-261, June.
    20. Frisvold, David E. & Pitts, Melinda, 2018. "State Merit Aid Programs and Youth Labor Market Attachment," IZA Discussion Papers 11557, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cca:wpaper:346. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Giovanni Bert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fccaait.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.