Single E W
Addiction Research Foundation, University of Toronto, Canada.
Accid Anal Prev. 1987 Dec;19(6):419-31. doi: 10.1016/0001-4575(87)90043-1.
The alcoholic beverage industry has undergone marked changes in its structure over the past several decades, and these changes have important implications to drinking and driving problems. In Canada and elsewhere, the industry has been generally transformed from a large set of small firms owned by entrepreneurs to a very small set of large international corporations with extensive and complex intercorporate connections. After describing trends in alcohol consumption and patterns of drinking, this paper examines the structure of the beverage alcohol industry in Canada. It is found that the distilling and brewing industries are highly concentrated and oligopolistic, while viticulture is more fragmented and regional in character. With regard to impact on drinking and driving problems, there are both positive and negative effects. On one hand, barriers to entry into the market are high and competition thereby restricted, thus avoiding certain excesses associated with fierce competition. Further, the large distillers and brewers, being able to afford advertising outlays and the temporary unprofitability necessary to introduce new products, have introduced lower alcohol content beverages which may eventually have a positive impact on drinking and driving incidents. On the other hand, there is little doubt that the industry structure greatly facilitates the promotion of alcohol consumption and, by contributing to the increased exposure of drivers to alcohol, thus exacerbates drinking and driving problems.
在过去几十年里，酒精饮料行业的结构发生了显著变化，这些变化对酒后驾车问题有着重要影响。在加拿大和其他地方，该行业总体上已从一大批由企业家拥有的小公司转变为极少数拥有广泛而复杂企业间联系的大型国际公司。在描述了酒精消费趋势和饮酒模式之后，本文考察了加拿大酒精饮料行业的结构。研究发现，蒸馏酒和酿造业高度集中且属于寡头垄断，而葡萄栽培业则更为分散且具有地域性。关于对酒后驾车问题的影响，既有积极的一面，也有消极的一面。一方面，进入市场的壁垒很高，竞争因而受到限制，从而避免了与激烈竞争相关的某些过度行为。此外，大型蒸馏酒商和酿造商有能力承担广告支出以及推出新产品所需的暂时无利可图的成本，他们推出了酒精度较低的饮料，这最终可能对酒后驾车事件产生积极影响。另一方面，毫无疑问，行业结构极大地促进了酒精消费，并且由于导致司机接触酒精的机会增加，从而加剧了酒后驾车问题。
