Price restrictions and other restrictions on alcohol availability in Denmark and Sweden: A historical perspective with implications for the current debate

Abstract

Background: Current political debate in Sweden is mainly centred on lowering taxes on alcohol in order to ``harmonize'' prices with those in neighbouring countries, although the evidence of a negative association between prices and alcohol consumption is more than convincing. Method: Total per capita consumption figures for twentieth-century Denmark and Sweden are utilized to illustrate the astonishing effects on consumption patterns of active government policies to restrict availability.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Centralförbundet för alkohol- och narkotikaupplysning (The Central Association for Alcohol and Narcotics Information). Drogutvecklingen i Sverige (Trends in alcohol and other drugs in Sweden). Report 2002. Stockholm; 2002.

Available at: www.sorad.su.se.

Lindström M. , Hanson BS , Rasmussen NK , et al. Om Sundhed och Ohälsa kring Sundet (Health and Illness around the Öresund). Copenhagen/Malmö: Danish Institute of Clinical Epidemiology/Department of Community Medicine (Lund University); 1995 .

Bjerregaard P. , Juel K. Middellevetid og dödelighed. En analyse af dödeligheden i Danmark og nogle europeiske lande 1950—1990. Copenhagen: Dansk Institut för Klinisk Epidemiologi ; 1993.

Kenkel DS

Drinking, driving and deterrence: The effectiveness and social costs of alternative policies. J Law and

Economics 1993;36:877—914.

Manning WG , Blumberg L. , Moulton LH The demand for alcohol: The differential response to price. J Health Economics 1995;14:123—48.

Kenkel DS New estimates of the optimal tax on alcohol. Economic Inquiry 1996;34:296—319.

Nelson JP

Broadcast advertising and US demand for alcoholic beverages. Southern

Economic J 1999;65: 774—90.

Muhler-Kuo M. , Rehm J. , Heeb J-L. , Gmel G. Decreased taxation, spirits consumption and alcohol-related problems in Switzerland. J Studies on Alcohol 2004;6:266—73.

10.

Pogue TF , Sgontz LG Taxing to control social costs: The case of alcohol. American Economic Review 1989; 79:235—43.

11.

Saffer H. , Chaloupka FJ Alcohol tax equalization and social costs . Eastern Economic J 1994;20:33—43.

12.

Nilsson C-A. ``Det danske system'' i 1920-talets förbudstid. In: Krantz O , Ohlsson R , editors. Ekonomisk-historiska vingslag (Economic-Historic Wing Beats). Lund: Studentlitteratur; 1987.