What Works in Alcohol Policy?

This paper empirically addresses the issue of the appropriate policy towards alcohol production and consumption in India by examining the impact of alternative policy prescriptions such as tax increases, prohibition, and the setting of age-limits on purchase on the numbers of people who report consuming alcohol. The paper suggests that an effective alternative strategy for curtailing alcohol consumption is an increase in prices, presumably via tax increases, on alcohol. If some of the tax revenues from an alcohol tax are used to school and educate the public, the gains in terms of reduced alcohol consumption rates would be even greater.