A note on 'Economic conditions and alcohol problems'.
This paper reexamines the effect of the business cycle on alcohol consumption using U.S. state-level analysis introduced by Rhum [Ruhm, C.J., 1995. Economic conditions and alcohol problems. Journal of Health Economics 14, 583-603]. Using an extended panel, this analysis finds that Ruhm's estimates are biased and inconsistent due to the problem of non-stationarity in alcohol consumption and state economic condition time series. Corrected estimation using logarithmic first differences confirms Ruhm's original finding of pro-cyclical alcohol consumption, but these results, unlike Ruhm's, are robust to sample period.
Freeman
D G
DG
Department of Economics and International Business, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77341-2118, USA. ecovdgf@shsu.edu
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000191:economics*; D003625:Data Collection; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014478:Unemployment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States