Can Higher Alcohol Tax Mitigate Costs On Society?
“No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.”
– The Holy Bible
“People who drink to drown their sorrow should be told that sorrow knows how to swim.”
– Ann Landers
“I drink Champagne when I win, to celebrate. And I drink Champagne when I lose, to console myself.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte
Excess of anything is said to be bad – whether it is wine or sunshine. Excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, for example, is fraught with manifold ills such as drunk-driving, vandalization, injuries, diseases, homicides, assaults, rapes, spouse mistreatment, child abuse, suicides and various other violent and risky behaviors. This sets the worried Government agog on a demand-dipping policy in the form of hiking tax on alcohol that foists a higher alcohol price on consumers. However, the hike in alcohol price affects the alcohol consumption of different categories of drinkers differently depending upon the degree of their addiction.
Types of Alcoholics
The alcoholics of the society may be categorized into two types: heavy drinkers and the light drinkers. The former are almost likely to persist with their previous quantum of consumption or thereabouts no matter how high the price is soaring; whilst the latter are inclined to cut down or even cut out the consumption if price of alcohol starts clambering up the ladder. So the efficacy of the alcohol tax in reducing consumption hinges on the price elasticity of demand of the respective drinkers. All this boils down to the neat poser: whether the targeted drinkers are the moderate ones or the hardcore ones..................
Non-Price Policy Tools
The opponents of higher tax on alcohol, therefore, suggest non-price policy tools (Exhibit I) for curbing alcohol consumption and hence alcohol-related harms............
Proponents of higher alcohol taxation, however, challenge the existence of any paradox in it by citing relevant empirical studies that suggest heavy drinkers are also fairly responsive to prices of alcohol. Researchers at the University of Florida led by Alexander C.............
The Concept of Price Elasticity of Demand
While the law of demand indicates the direction of responsiveness of quantity demanded to a change in price, it does not, however, spell out the extent of the responsiveness. Therefore, economists have devised the concept of the price elasticity of demand to measure the degree of responsiveness of the quantity demanded to a change in price.............
Assignment Questions
I. What is meant by the Law of Demand (LOD)? Does the law apply to hardcore alcoholics?
II. What do you mean by Price Elasticity of Demand (PED)? How is it different from Law of Demand (LOD)?
III. What are the different types of Price Elasticity of Demand (PED)?
IV. ....................
Exhibits
Exhibit I: Non-Price Policy Tools for Curbing Alcohol Consumption
Exhibit II: Inverse Relationship between Alcohol Tax and Alcohol-Related Harms
Exhibit III: Price Elasticity of Alcohol Consumption