Do Border Crossings Contribute to Underage Motor-Vehicle Fatalities?

Kreft, Steven F.; Epling, Nancy M.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.967481

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Do Border Crossings Contribute to Underage Motor-Vehicle Fatalities?

29 Pages Posted: 7 Mar 2007

See all articles by Steven F. Kreft

Steven F. Kreft

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Business Economics & Public Policy

Currently, Michigan residents can avoid the national drinking age of 21 by crossing into Ontario where the drinking age is 19. This paper explores the impact that border crossings, connecting areas with different minimum legal drinking ages (MLDA), have on motor-vehicle fatalities. We analyze border crossings connecting Michigan to Ontario, as well as to its surrounding states in the period in which Michigan's MLDA was raised to 21. Using a "differences-in-differences-in-differences" approach we find that the MLDA change did not contribute to increased underage fatalities in border crossing counties.

Keywords: drinking age laws, differences-in-differences

JEL Classification: H7, K0

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Kreft, Steven Francis and Epling, Nancy Marie, Do Border Crossings Contribute to Underage Motor-Vehicle Fatalities? (2005). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=967481 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.967481