Abstract
Alcoholic beverages have been a part of society since the earliest civilizations. The social cost of alcohol abuse has probably had a similar history. Societies have developed various customs, including alcohol control regulations, as a response to these social costs. Alcoholic beverages have also acquired an historic place in traditional social life; this is particularly true of beer and wine but less so for spirits. These phenomena have resulted in two generalities that are characteristic of most alcohol control regulations. First, there is an ambivalence about the extent of alcohol control that is appropriate. Alcohol control regulations are instituted in the hope of curbing abuse rather than controlling use. In practice, the distinction between use and abuse is difficult to make. Some of this ambivalence toward alcohol control may also be the result of the unsuccessful experience with prohibition in the US. Second, there is a tradition of more extensive control over spirits than over beer or wine.
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© 2002 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Saffer, H., Grossman, M., Chaloupka, F. (2002). Alcohol Control. In: Newman, P. (eds) The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-74173-1_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-74173-1_11
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