Price elasticities of alcohol demand: evidence from Russia

Eur J Health Econ. 2015 Mar;16(2):185-99. doi: 10.1007/s10198-014-0565-9. Epub 2014 Feb 18.

Abstract

In this paper, we estimate price elasticities of demand of several types of alcoholic drinks, using 14 rounds of data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey-HSE, collected from 1994 until 2009. We deal with potential confounding problems by taking advantage of a large number of control variables, as well as by estimating community fixed effect models. All in all, although alcohol prices do appear to influence consumption behaviour in Russia, in most cases the size of effect is modest. The finding that two particularly problematic drinks-cheap vodka and fortified wine-are substitute goods also suggests that increasing their prices may not lead to smaller alcohol consumption. Therefore, any alcohol pricing policies in Russia must be supplemented with other measures, such as restrictions on numbers of sales outlets or their opening times.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Alcohol Drinking / economics*
  • Alcoholic Beverages / economics*
  • Costs and Cost Analysis / statistics & numerical data*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Models, Econometric
  • Russia
  • Sex Factors
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Time Factors