Lehto J
National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, Helsinki, Finland.
Addiction. 1997 Mar;92 Suppl 1:S55-9.
The use of economic arguments with regard to four aspects of alcohol policy is described and discussed. The first aspect is the impact of a potential reduction in alcohol consumption on employment by alcohol production and trade. It is shown that employment is quite independent of the level of consumption. The second aspect is the opportunity for serving the public health and state finance interests at the same time by developing alcohol taxation. The third aspect is the relationship between the public revenue from alcohol and the public costs for alcohol-related problems. A "polluter pays" principle with regard to alcohol would mean higher taxation of alcoholic beverages. The fourth aspect is the need for cost-effectiveness analyses to support the choices by the decision makers between different alcohol policy options. It is concluded that such analyses could have impact on the priorities in public health policy on alcohol.
本文描述并讨论了与酒精政策四个方面相关的经济论据。第一个方面是酒精消费潜在减少对酒精生产和贸易就业的影响。结果表明，就业与消费水平相当独立。第二个方面是通过制定酒精税同时服务于公共卫生和国家财政利益的机会。第三个方面是酒精带来的公共收入与酒精相关问题的公共成本之间的关系。关于酒精的“污染者付费”原则意味着对酒精饮料征收更高的税。第四个方面是需要进行成本效益分析，以支持决策者在不同酒精政策选项之间做出选择。结论是，此类分析可能会影响公共卫生政策中关于酒精的优先事项。
