Abstract
We estimate the effect of binge drinking on road accidents, accident and emergency (A&E) attendances and arrests using a variety of unique English data and a two-sample instrumental variables estimation procedure. Drinking 10+ units of alcohol in a single session increases road accidents by 18.6%, injury-related A&E attendances by 6.6% and arrests by 71%. The marginal increase from eight to 10+ alcoholic units implies nearly 6,100 extra road accidents every year, 63,000 additional A&E attendances and 100,000 additional arrests. The externality per mile driven by a binge drinker is about five pence and the punishment that internalises this externality is equivalent to a fine of £22,800 per drunk driving arrest.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2090-2136 |
| Number of pages | 47 |
| Journal | The Economic journal |
| Volume | 129 |
| Issue number | 621 |
| Early online date | 18 Jul 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2019 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Economics and Econometrics
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Jonathan James
- Department of Economics - Senior Lecturer
- Institute for Policy Research (IPR)
- Centre for Analysis of Social Policy (CASP)
- Labour, Education and Health Economics
Person: Research & Teaching