Love on the Rocks: Alcohol Abuse and Domestic Violence in Rural Mexico

34 Pages Posted: 21 Apr 2007

See all articles by Manuela Angelucci

Manuela Angelucci

University of Arizona - Department of Economics; University of Michigan - Department of Economics; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Date Written: March 2007

Abstract

What causes alcohol abuse and domestic violence and how can we stop them? These behaviors have multiple determinants, making the effects of changes in wife's and husband's income ambiguous. This paper estimates the effects of exogenous changes in wife's and husband's income on husband alcohol abuse and alcohol-induced violence using new data from rural Mexico. A long-lasting 20 dollar monthly increase in wife income decreases husbands' alcohol abuse by 15% and aggressive behavior by 21%; the extra money increase the wife's freedom and security, is spent on individual and household goods, and it crowds out transfers from the husband only for 5% of the wives whose income increases. Alcohol abuse and violence are insensitive to short-term fluctuations in husband's income. These findings suggest that the wife uses her higher income to reduce the consumption of goods that lower her utility, that alcohol abuse responds more to changes in permanent than in temporary income, and that targeting women as recipients of micro-credit or of other welfare programs may have beneficial effects in reducing alcohol dependence and domestic violence.

Keywords: public health, household behavior, Mexico

JEL Classification: D13, I18, O12

Suggested Citation

Angelucci, Manuela and Angelucci, Manuela, Love on the Rocks: Alcohol Abuse and Domestic Violence in Rural Mexico (March 2007). IZA Discussion Paper No. 2706, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=981690 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.981690

Manuela Angelucci (Contact Author)

University of Arizona - Department of Economics ( email )

McClelland Hall
1130 Helen St.
Tucson, AZ 85721-0108
United States

University of Michigan - Department of Economics ( email )

611 Tappan Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1220
United States

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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