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The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 106 No. 4 2024

Alcohol, Violence, and Injury-Induced Mortality: Evidence from a Modern-Day Prohibition

Kai Barron1; Charles Parry2; Debbie Bradshaw3; Rob Dorrington4; Pam Groenewald5; Ria Laubscher5; Richard Matzopoulos3

1 WZB Berlin · 2 South African Medical Research Council and Stellenbosch University · 3 South African Medical Research Council and University of Cape Town · 4 University of Cape Town · 5 South African Medical Research Council

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Abstract

This paper evaluates the impact of a sudden and unexpected nationwide alcohol sales ban in South Africa. We find that this policy causally reduced injury-induced mortality in the country by at least 14%. We argue that this estimate constitutes a lower bound on the true impact of alcohol on injury-induced mortality. We also document a sharp drop in violent crimes, indicating a tight link between alcohol and aggressive behavior in society. Our results underscore the severe harm that alcohol can cause and point toward a role for policy measures that target the heaviest drinkers in society.

DOI
10.1162/rest_a_01228
Volume
106
Issue
4
Pages
938-955
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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