Community-based only
Increase alcohol tax
Under this strategy, a state or local government increases the tax on the sale of alcohol, thereby raising the cost of alcohol consumption and decreasing the affordability of excessive drinking.
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Effectiveness: = Higher effectiveness
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Cost: $$ = Mid-range
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Research Amount: **** = 5 or more longitudinal studies
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Public Health Reach: Broad
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Staffing Expertise Needed: Policy advocate
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Target Population: All students
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Research Population: College, general
Effectiveness ratings are based on estimated success in achieving targeted outcomes. Cost ratings are based on a consensus among research team members of the relative program and staff costs for adoption, implementation, and maintenance of a strategy. Actual costs will vary by institution, depending on size, existing programs, and other campus and community factors. Barriers to implementing a strategy include cost and opposition, among other factors. Public health reach refers to the number of students that a strategy affects. Strategies with a broad reach affect all students or a large group of students (e.g., all underage students); strategies with a focused reach affect individuals or small groups of students (e.g., sanctioned students). Research amount/quality refers to the number and design of studies.
- Reviews:
Elder RW, Lawrence B, Ferguson A, Naimi TS, Brewer RD, Chattopadhyay SK, et al. The effectiveness of tax policy interventions for reducing excessive alcohol consumption and related harms. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 38(2):217–29, 2010. - Wagenaar AC, Tobler AL, & Komro KA. Effects of alcohol tax and price policies on morbidity and mortality: A systematic review. American Journal of Public Health, 100(11):2270–78, 2010.
- Meta-analysis:
Wagenaar AC, Salois MJ, & Komro KA. Effects of beverage alcohol price and tax levels on drinking: A meta-analysis of 1003 estimates from 112 studies. Addiction, 104(2):179–90, 2009. - Recent studies:
Daley JI, Stahre MA, Chaloupka FJ, & Naimi TS. The impact of a 25-cent-per-drink alcohol tax increase. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 42(4):382–9, 2012. - Markowitz S, Poe-Yamagata E, Andrews T, Deb P, Nesson E, Florence C, et al. Estimating the relationship between alcohol policies and criminal violence and victimization. German Economic Review, 13(4):416–35, 2012.
References from 2019 update
Highlighted references:
- Daley, J.I.; Stahre, M.A.; Chaloupka, F.J.; and Naimi, T.S. The impact of a 25-cent-per-drink alcohol tax increase. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 42(4):382–389, 2012.
- Delcher, C.; Maldonado-Molina, M.M.; and Wagenaar, A.C. Effects of alcohol taxes on alcohol-related disease mortality in New York state from 1969 to 2006. Addictive Behaviors 37(7):783–789, 2012.
- Staras, S.A.S.; Livingston, M.D.; and Wagenaar, A.C. Maryland alcohol sales tax and sexually transmitted infections: A natural experiment. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 50(3):e73–e80, 2016.
- Wagenaar, A.C.; Livingston, M.D.; and Staras, S.A.S. Effects of a 2009 Illinois alcohol tax increase on fatal motor vehicle crashes. American Journal of Public Health 105(9):1880–1885, 2015.
Additional references:
- Byrnes, J.; Shakeshaft, A.; Petrie, D.; and Doran, C. Can harms associated with high-intensity drinking be reduced by increasing the price of alcohol? Drug and Alcohol Review 32(1):27–30, 2013.
- Casswell, S.; Huckle, T.; Wall, M.; and Yeh, L.C. International alcohol control study: Pricing data and hours of purchase predict heavier drinking. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 38(5):1425–1431, 2014.
- Chang, K.Y.; Wu, C.C.; and Ying, Y.H. The effectiveness of alcohol control policies on alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the United States. Accident Analysis and Prevention 45:406–415, 2012.
- Crawford, M.J.; Parry, A.M.H.; Weston, A.R.W.; et al. Relationship between price paid for off-trade alcohol, alcohol consumption and income in England: A cross-sectional survey. Alcohol and Alcoholism 47(6):738–742, 2012.
- Esser, M.B.; Waters, H.; Smart, M.; and Jernigan, D.H. Impact of Maryland's 2011 alcohol sales tax increase on alcoholic beverage sales. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 42(4):404–411, 2016.
- Gale, M.; Muscatello, D.J.; Dinh, M.; et al. Alcopops, taxation and harm: A segmented time series analysis of emergency department presentations. BMC Public Health 15:468, 2015.
- Herttua, K.; Ostergren, O.; Lundberg, O.; and Martikainen, P. Influence of affordability of alcohol on educational disparities in alcohol-related mortality in Finland and Sweden: A time series analysis. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 71(12):1168–1176, 2017.
- Holm, A.; Veerman, L.; Cobiac, L.; et al. Cost-effectiveness of changes in alcohol taxation in Denmark: A modelling study. Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation 12(1):1, 2014.
- Jiang, H.; and Livingston, M. The dynamic effects of changes in prices and affordability on alcohol consumption: An impulse response analysis. Alcohol and Alcoholism 50(6):631–638, 2015.
- Lhachimi, S.K.; Cole, K.J.; Nusselder, W.J.; et al. Health impacts of increasing alcohol prices in the European Union: A dynamic projection. Preventive Medicine 55(3):237–243, 2012.
- Lin, C.M.; and Liao, C.M. Alcohol tax policy in relation to hospitalization from alcohol-attributed diseases in Taiwan: A nationwide population analysis of data from 1996 to 2010. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 37(9):1544–1551, 2013.
- Markowitz, S.; Poe-Yamagata, E.; Andrews, T.; et al. Estimating the relationship between alcohol policies and criminal violence and victimization. German Economic Review 13(4):416–435, 2012.
- Nelson, J.P. Estimating the price elasticity of beer: Meta-analysis of data with heterogeneity, dependence, and publication bias. Journal of Health Economics 33:180–187, 2014.
- Nelson, J.P.; and McNall, A.D. Alcohol prices, taxes, and alcohol-related harms: A critical review of natural experiments in alcohol policy for nine countries. Health Policy 120(3):264–272, 2016.
- Page, N.; Sivarajasingam, V.; Matthews, K.; et al. Preventing violence-related injuries in England and Wales: A panel study examining the impact of on-trade and off-trade alcohol prices. Injury Prevention 23(1):33–39, 2017.
- Razvodovsky, Y.E. Affordability of alcohol and alcohol-related mortality in Belarus. Adicciones 25(2):156–162, 2013.
- Scherer, M.; Romano, E.; Caldwell, S.; and Taylor, E. The impact of retail beverage service training and social host laws on adolescents' DUI rates in San Diego County, California. Traffic Injury Prevention 19(2):111–117, 2017.
- Subramanian, A.; and Kumar, P. The impact of price policy on demand for alcohol in rural India. Social Science and Medicine 191:176–185, 2017.
- Wall, M.; and Casswell, S. Affordability of alcohol as a key driver of alcohol demand in New Zealand: A co-integration analysis. Addiction 108(1):72–79, 2018.
- Xuan, Z.M.; Nelson, T.F.; Heeren, T.; et al. Tax policy, adult binge drinking, and youth alcohol consumption in the United States. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 37(10):1713–1719, 2013.
NIAAA, Alcohol Policy Information System:
For more information about intervention designs and implementation, check the articles in the References tab.
