Abstract
The author tests whether leaving school in an economic downturn persistently affects alcohol use. She models alcohol use in middle age as a function of the state unemployment rate at school-leaving in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Cohort. The results suggest that men, but not women, who leave school in an economic downturn consume more drinks and are more likely to report heavy and binge drinking than otherwise similar men. Findings are robust to addressing the endogeneity of the time and location of school-leaving and contribute to the literature on the lasting consequences of leaving school in an economic downturn.
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