Determinants and Consequences of Alcohol Consumption
This project, conducted by a multidisciplinary team, will address the following four specific aims.
(1) Analyze patterns of alcohol consumption over the life cycle, using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) for persons 50+ and from Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) for persons younger than this. The goal is to compare effects of determinants of drinking, such as stressful life events, education, and psychological traits in adulthood and in late middle age, with the end result being an integrated model of alcohol consumption over the life cycle.
(2) Assess the extent to which competitiveness of local retail alcohol markets and distance between place of residence and location of alcohol retail establishments influence alcohol consumption. Longitudinal data will be merged from the Economic Census with data on individuals from HRS and CARDIA, to study entry-exit patterns and the spatial distribution of alcohol retailers.
(3) Assess interrelationships in consumption of alcohol, cigarettes, licit psychotropic drugs, and illicit drugs using data from CARDIA. In particular, own and cross-price effects of prices of each substance on consumption of all for substances will be investigated.
(4) Assess effects of alcohol consumption on educational attainment, occupation, and earnings, using data from CARDIA and HRS. Past research has suggested that light/moderate drinkers experience more favorable outcomes than either abstainers or heavy drinkers. This may reflect endogeneity of alcohol consumption and/or confounding (failure to account for variables that are systematically correlated with drinking patterns). The study team will use the panel structure of CARDIA and factors not included in previous research on alcohol consumption effects (e.g., psychological traits) to deal with confounding in education and occupational choice, using CARDIA. They will specify and estimate a dynamic discrete choice model using HRS to study relationships between alcohol consumption, occupational choice, and earnings.
