The Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign and Russia's Mortality Crisis

70 Pages Posted: 6 Oct 2012

See all articles by Jay Bhattacharya

Jay Bhattacharya

Stanford University - Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Christina Gathmann

Luxembourg Institute for Socio-Economic Research; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); IZA Institute of Labor Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Grant Miller

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Stanford University - School of Medicine

Abstract

Political and economic transition is often blamed for Russia's 40% surge in deaths between 1990 and 1994 (the "Russian Mortality Crisis"). Highlighting that increases in mortality occurred primarily among alcohol related causes and among working-age men (the heaviest drinkers), this paper investigates an alternative explanation: the demise of the 1985-1988 Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign. We use archival sources to build a new oblast-year data set spanning 1970-2000 and find that: (1) The campaign was associated with substantially fewer campaign year deaths, (2) Oblasts with larger reductions in alcohol consumption and mortality during the campaign experienced larger transition era increases, and (3) Other former Soviet states and Eastern European countries exhibit similar mortality patterns commensurate with their campaign exposure. The campaign's end explains a large share of the mortality crisis, suggesting that Russia's transition to capitalism and democracy was not as lethal as commonly suggested.

Keywords: mortality, transition, alcohol, Russia

JEL Classification: I18, I15, P35, P36, P37

Suggested Citation

Bhattacharya, Jayanta and Gathmann, Christina and Miller, Grant and Miller, Grant, The Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign and Russia's Mortality Crisis. IZA Discussion Paper No. 6783, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2157925 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2157925

Jayanta Bhattacharya (Contact Author)

Stanford University - Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research ( email )

Center for Health Policy
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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Christina Gathmann

Luxembourg Institute for Socio-Economic Research ( email )

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Luxembourg

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

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CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) ( email )

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Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.stanford.edu/~cgathman

Grant Miller

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Stanford University - School of Medicine ( email )

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