Ahammer Alexander, Bauernschuster Stefan, Halla Martin, Lachenmaier Hannah
Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria; Christian Doppler Laboratory Aging, Health, and the Labor Market, Linz, Austria.
University of Passau, Germany; IZA, Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany; CESifo, Munich, Germany.
J Health Econ. 2022 Jan;81:102571. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2021.102571. Epub 2021 Dec 7.
Low minimum legal drinking ages (MLDAs), as prevalent in many European countries, are severely understudied. We use rich survey and administrative data to estimate the impact of the Austrian MLDA of 16 on teenage drinking behavior and morbidity. Regression discontinuity estimates show that legal access to alcohol increases the frequency and intensity of drinking, which results in more hospital admissions due to alcohol intoxication. The effects are stronger for boys and teenagers with low socioeconomic background. Evidence suggests that the policy's impact cannot be fully explained by access. Data from an annual large-scale field study show that about 25 percent of retailers sell even hard liquor to underage customers. More generally, perceived access to alcohol is very high and hardly changes at the MLDA. However, teenagers consider binge drinking at weekends to be less harmful after gaining legal access.
许多欧洲国家普遍实行的低法定饮酒年龄（MLDAs），其研究严重不足。我们使用丰富的调查和行政数据来估计奥地利16岁的法定饮酒年龄对青少年饮酒行为和发病率的影响。回归断点估计表明，合法饮酒会增加饮酒频率和饮酒强度，这导致因酒精中毒而住院的人数增加。对男孩和社会经济背景较低的青少年影响更大。有证据表明，该政策的影响不能完全通过饮酒机会来解释。一项年度大规模实地研究的数据显示，约25%的零售商甚至向未成年顾客出售烈性酒。更普遍的是，人们认为饮酒机会非常高，在法定饮酒年龄时几乎没有变化。然而，青少年在获得合法饮酒机会后，认为周末狂饮的危害较小。
