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Do Stricter Penalties or Media Publicity Reduce Alcohol Consumption By Drivers?

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  • Anindya Sen

    (Department of Economics, University of Waterloo)

Abstract
A decline in drinking and driving could be due to stricter penalties as well as enhanced media publicity, which increases public knowledge of drinking and driving laws. However, most research fails to control for the effects of increased media coverage. Employing a unique data set consisting of the blood alcohol content (BAC) levels of fatally injured drivers in Canada from 1982 to 1992, I find that both stricter penalties and an increase in the number of newspaper articles related to drinking and driving are significantly correlated with reduced alcohol consumption. Further, omitting proxies for media coverage results in biased coefficient estimates of the efficacy of stricter penalties. These results suggest that the enactment of sterner punishment must be supplemented with public education programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Anindya Sen, 2002. "Do Stricter Penalties or Media Publicity Reduce Alcohol Consumption By Drivers?," Working Papers 02005, University of Waterloo, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2002.
    • Handle: RePEc:wat:wpaper:02005
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruhm, Christopher J., 1996. "Alcohol policies and highway vehicle fatalities," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 435-454, August.
    2. Dee, Thomas S., 1999. "State alcohol policies, teen drinking and traffic fatalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 289-315, May.
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    4. Anindya Sen, 2001. "Do stricter penalties deter drinking and driving? An empirical investigation of Canadian impaired driving laws," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(1), pages 149-164, February.
    5. Chaloupka, Frank J & Saffer, Henry & Grossman, Michael, 1993. "Alcohol-Control Policies and Motor-Vehicle Fatalities," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(1), pages 161-186, January.
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    8. Benson, B.L. & Mast, B.D. & Rasmussen, D.W., 1997. "Deterring Drunk Driving Fatalities: An Economics of Crime Perspective," Working Papers 1997_03_01, Department of Economics, Florida State University.
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    Cited by:

    1. Anindya Sen & May Luong, 2008. "Estimating The Impact Of Beer Prices On The Incidence Of Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Cross‐Province And Time Series Evidence From Canada," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 26(4), pages 505-517, October.

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