Social Costs of Abusive Alcohol Consumption in Uruguay

Abstract

This paper estimates the social cost of alcohol consumption in Uruguay. The estimated social cost includes direct costs - such as medical, judicial system and property destruction costs - as well as indirect costs - which includes, e.g, premature death, disability and repression costs. The methods are based on the cost of illness framework, addressing the estimates through the application of the human capital method and prevalence approach.

Results for year 2015 indicates that the net social cost of abusive alcohol consumption is 256.5 million dollars -i.e 0.48% of GDP - while the gross social cost is 280.4 million dollars - i.e 0.53% of GDP.

Keywords: Social Costs, Cost of Illness, Alcohol Consumption, Uruguay.

JEL Classification: I00, I19