School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, 30 Regent Street, Sheffield, S1 4DA, UK.
Division of Health Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YG, UK.
Eur J Health Econ. 2019 Apr;20(3):439-454. doi: 10.1007/s10198-018-1009-8. Epub 2018 Oct 1.
Many people drink more than the recommended level of alcohol, with some drinking substantially more. There is evidence that suggests that this leads to large health and social costs, and price is often proposed as a tool for reducing consumption. This paper uses quantile regression methods to estimate the differential price (and income) elasticities across the drinking distribution. This is also done for on-premise (pubs, bars and clubs) and off-premise (supermarkets and shops) alcohol separately. In addition, we examine the extent to which drinkers respond to price changes by varying the 'quality' of the alcohol that they consume. We find that heavy drinkers are much less responsive to price in terms of quantity, but that they are more likely to substitute with cheaper products when the price of alcohol increases. The implication is that price-based policies may have little effect in reducing consumption amongst the heaviest drinkers, provided they can switch to lower quality alternatives.
许多人饮酒超过建议水平，其中一些人饮酒量相当大。有证据表明，这会导致巨大的健康和社会成本，而价格通常被提议作为减少消费的一种手段。本文使用分位数回归方法估计了整个饮酒分布的差异价格（和收入）弹性。这也分别针对在店（酒吧、酒馆和俱乐部）和离店（超市和商店）酒类进行了研究。此外，我们还考察了饮酒者在多大程度上通过改变所消费的酒类“质量”来对价格变化做出反应。我们发现，大量饮酒者在数量方面对价格的反应要小得多，但当酒类价格上涨时，他们更有可能转而购买更便宜的产品。这意味着，只要他们能够转向低质量的替代品，基于价格的政策可能对减少最重度饮酒者的消费影响不大。
