Understanding the Decline in Drinking and Driving During 'The Other Great Moderation'

52 Pages Posted: 3 May 2010 Last revised: 13 Nov 2020

See all articles by Darren P. Grant

Darren P. Grant

Sam Houston State University - College of Business Administration - Department of Economics and International Business

Date Written: October 16, 2012

Abstract

We show that the dynamics of drinking and driving can be adequately described using a simple measure: the fraction of accidents involving drinking drivers. Using this measure, we develop a basic traffic safety model that improves estimates of drunk driving laws’ effects and breaks down declines in drinking and driving into components associated with each major influence that has been identified in the literature–including unobservable “social forces.” In this decomposition, we find that the widespread enactment of key drunk driving laws explains only one-fifth of the reduction in drinking and driving in the 1980s and 1990s, comparable to the effects of demographics and alcohol consumption and less than that of social forces. “The Other Great Moderation” is best understood as a two-decade movement of drinking and driving to a new steady state, which was led by a shift in social attitudes and cemented and extended by law.

Keywords: Drunk Driving, Traffic Safety Legislation, Panel Data Analysis

JEL Classification: I18, K14, N42

Suggested Citation

Grant, Darren P., Understanding the Decline in Drinking and Driving During 'The Other Great Moderation' (October 16, 2012). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1599641 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1599641

Darren P. Grant (Contact Author)

Sam Houston State University - College of Business Administration - Department of Economics and International Business ( email )

SHSU Box 2118
Huntsville, TX 77341-2118
United States
936-294-4324 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.shsu.edu/dpg006

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
120
Abstract Views
1,376
Rank
419,528
PlumX Metrics