Citation

Popovici I, French MT. Ind. Relat. 2013; 52(2): 444-466.

Affiliation

Department of Sociobehavioral and Administrative Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Nova Southeastern University, 3200 South University Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, 33328-2018; Telephone: 954-262-1393; ; Ioana.Popovici@nova.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Regents of the University of California, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/irel.12019

PMID

23543880

Abstract

Using panel data from Waves 1 and 2 of the NESARC, we estimate gender-specific effects of changes in employment status on overall alcohol consumption, binge drinking episodes, and a diagnosis of alcohol abuse and/or dependence. We employ various fixed-effects models to address potential bias from unobserved and time-invariant individual heterogeneity. All results show a positive and significant effect of unemployment on drinking behaviors and the findings are robust to numerous sensitivity tests. Perhaps macroeconomic policy decisions intended to stimulate the economy during economic downturns should also consider the avoided personal costs and externalities associated with alcohol misuse.

Language: en