Working Paper: NBER ID: w15439
Authors: Robert Kaestner; Benjamin Yarnoff
Abstract: We examine whether adult alcohol consumption and traffic fatalities are associated with the legal drinking environment when a person was between the ages of 18 and 20. We find that moving from an environment in which a person was never allowed to drink legally to one in which a person could always drink legally was associated with a 20 to 30 percent increase in alcohol consumption and a ten percent increase in fatal accidents for adult males. There were no statistically significant or practically important associations between the legal drinking environment when young and adult female alcohol consumption and driving fatalities.
Keywords: Minimum Legal Drinking Age; Alcohol Consumption; Traffic Fatalities
JEL Codes: I12; I18; K32
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) (K16) | adult alcohol consumption (I12) |
| minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) (K16) | traffic fatalities (R48) |
| legal drinking environment during late adolescence (K32) | adult alcohol consumption (I12) |
| legal drinking environment during late adolescence (K32) | traffic fatalities (R48) |