Venue: The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, 1 Towerview Drive, Durham, NC 27708-0120

 

Presentation

BAC or Bacchus? Location versus Quantity of Drinking

Authors: Gulcin Gumus (Florida International University); Luca Bossi (University of Miami)

Presenter: Gulcin Gumus (Florida International University)

Discussant: Dhaval Dave (Bentley College)

Session: Health & Location

Room: Seminar C

When: Monday 3:15 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.

State drunk driving laws are designed to deter alcohol impaired driving. These laws, in particular the BAC (blood alcohol concentration) limits, have been found to be quite effective in terms of reducing the alcohol involved motor vehicle crashes and fatalities. It is not clear though whether these reductions are due to the decreases in alcohol consumption or due to reductions in driving after drinking. This paper tries to identify the possible underlying mechanisms through which the BAC laws may have reduced the alcohol related crashes. For this purpose, we use data from the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). These data include information about the typical location of drinking (in public versus elsewhere) as well as the typical quantity of drinking. We find that the .08 BAC limits significantly reduce the probability of drinking in public whereas they do not have any significant effect on excessive drinking. These findings confirm that the BAC limits serve as an appropriate policy instrument to correct the externality of drunk driving. The results are robust to different definitions of excessive drinking. Other state policies, such as monetary fines, jail sentences, and licence suspension or revocation penalties do not seem to be as effective.