A survey of findings on the economic and regulatory determinants of the demand for alcoholic beverages.

Abstract

This paper summarizes the findings of two studies on the demand for alcoholic beverages. The first study surveyed the results of over twenty demand estimation studies conducted between 1945 and 1977, covering many countries. The second study estimated the demand for distilled spirits and beer across states and the District of Columbia for the period 1974-1978. The main finding is that among all the regulatory variables available to reduce mean consumption, price has the strongest impact.