|
Citation
|
Xuan Z, Chaloupka FJ, Blanchette J, Nguyen T, Heeren T, Nelson TF, Naimi TS. Addiction 2014; 110(3): 441-450. |
|
Affiliation
|
Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. |
|
Abstract
|
AIMS: U.S. studies contribute heavily to of the literature about the tax elasticity of demand for alcohol, and most U.S. studies have relied on specific excise (volume-based) taxes for beer as a proxy for alcohol taxes. The purpose of this paper was to compare this conventional alcohol tax measure with more comprehensive tax measures (incorporating multiple tax and beverage types) in analyses of the relationship between alcohol taxes and adult binge drinking prevalence in U.S. states.
DESIGN: Data on U.S. state excise, ad valorem, and sales taxes from 2001-2010 were obtained from the Alcohol Policy Information System and other sources. For N = 510 state-year strata, we developed a series of weighted tax-per-drink measures that incorporated various combinations of tax and beverage types, and related these measures to state-level adult binge drinking prevalence data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys.
FINDINGS: In analyses pooled across all years, models using the combined tax measure explained approximately 20% of state binge drinking prevalence, and documented more negative tax elasticity (-0.09, p = 0.02) and price elasticity (-1.40, p < 0.01) compared with models using only the volume-based tax. In analyses stratified by year, the R-squares for models using the beer combined tax measure are stable across the study period (p = 0.11), while the R-squares for models relying only on volume-based tax decline (p < 0.01).
CONCLUSIONS: Compared with volume-based tax measures, combined tax measures (i.e., those incorporating volume-based tax and value-based taxes) yield substantial improvement in model fit and find more negative tax elasticity and price elasticity predicting adult binge drinking prevalence in U.S. states. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Language: en |