Can Alcohol Prohibition Reduce Violence Against Women?

Abstract

Violence against women is a critical problem across the world. In this paper, we exploit state and temporal variation in alcohol control in India to examine the impact of prohibition on alcohol consumption and violent crimes against women. We first use detailed household survey data to show that prohibition policies are associated with substantially lower rates of drinking among men and domestic violence. Next, we provide evidence that alcohol prohibition reduces aggregate violence against women in officially reported crime data. The results suggest that policies that restrict access to alcohol may help reduce gender violence.

Keywords: alcohol consumption, domestic violence, violence against women, prohibition, minimum legal drinking age

JEL Classification: I18, K42, J12