Youth Alcohol Consumption, Traffic Accidents, and Mortality

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Jan Marcus; Professor Thomas Siedler, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Statistics and Econometrics
• Term: from 2019 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 420279286

Excessive alcohol consumption is among the leading risk factors regarding diseases, disabilities, and mortality worldwide. Harmful consumption of alcohol and binge drinking are particularly risk factors for youths and young adults. This research proposal covers three different subprojects, with each addressing different aspects of policy-related determinants of excessive alcohol consumption among young individuals. The first subproject focuses on a policy that regulates the demographic access to alcohol by imposing a minimum legal drinking age at two different age thresholds (ages 16 and 18 years) in Germany. By comparing individuals close to the left and right of the age cutoffs, we aim to examine the effect of the law on general mortality and fatal traffic accidents (regression discontinuity design). The second subproject analyzes a regulation of the temporal access to alcohol, namely the 2010 late-night alcohol sales ban in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg. The analysis will contrast counties in Baden-Württemberg with other unregulated counties in Germany before and after the late-night alcohol sales ban to investigate its impact on alcohol-related traffic accidents and fatalities among young people (difference-in-differences approach). By exploiting the exogenous allocation of ethnic German immigrants to German counties, the effect of immigration from countries with a more extensive drinking culture on youth alcohol consumption and youth traffic accidents will be of main interest in the third subproject. Overall, our project adds to the literature by providing novel evidence on the effectiveness of regulatory strategies and immigration on an important health risk among young people, excessive alcohol consumption. In particular, the subprojects examine the relevance of risk factors and potential policies that might affect excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol-related traffic accidents. All subprojects focus on alcohol consumption and traffic accidents of young people, which is of particular policy relevance. Further, the subprojects exploit natural experiments by means of state-of-the-art microeconometric evaluation techniques in order to establish causal relationships. Each subproject combines administrative data with new information from a self-conducted Internet survey and focuses on Germany, a country where heavy alcohol consumption is prevalent among young individuals.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: USA
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Nicolas Ziebarth