The Effects of Alcohol Regulation on Physical Child Abuse

44 Pages Posted: 15 Sep 1998 Last revised: 14 Aug 2022

See all articles by Sara Markowitz

Sara Markowitz

Emory University; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Michael Grossman

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), NY Office; CUNY The Graduate Center - Department of Economics

Date Written: July 1998

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of alcohol regulation on physical child abuse. Given the established relationship between alcohol consumption and violence, the principal hypothesis to be tested is that an increase in the price of alcohol will lead to a reduction in the incidence of violence. We also examine the effects of measures of the ease of obtaining alcohol, illegal drug prices, and the socio-demographic characteristics of the parent on the incidence of child abuse. Data on violence come from the 1976 and 1985 Physical Violence in American Families surveys. We estimate a reduced form model where violence is affected by the state excise tax rate on beer and other regulatory variables, and a structural model where violence is determined partly by consumption. Both equations are estimated separately for mothers and fathers. Results indicate that increases in the beer tax may decrease the incidence of violence committed by females but not by males. This is consistent with our second finding that violence by females increases with alcohol consumption while violence by males is not sensitive to changes in consumption.

Suggested Citation

Markowitz, Sara and Grossman, Michael, The Effects of Alcohol Regulation on Physical Child Abuse (July 1998). NBER Working Paper No. w6629, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=123211

Sara Markowitz

Emory University ( email )

Atlanta, GA 30322
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Michael Grossman (Contact Author)

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