Drink, drink, more drink
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Students are often asked to weigh up policies to limit the over consumption of demerit goods like alcoholic drinks. This BBC article cited by Ben White considers some of them.
Most governments have used a combination of policies with varying levels of success. One policy option is the use of variable rates of Excise Duty. The March 2011 budget resulted in a rise in the duty on strong beers (above 7.5% alcohol) of 25%, and the duty on weak beers (below 2.8%) cut by 50%.
The excise duty changes in The 2011 Budget were to tackle problem drinking by encouraging industry to produce, and drinkers to consume, lower strength beer. HMRC believe that there would be some unstated long term health benefits as a result of the change.
The Scottish Government and pressure groups have proposed a minimum price system, which might make a pint of beer at least £1.25 and a bottle of wine £5. This could affect low-cost retailers and some supermarkets but few pubs. Opponents of this measure imply that unintended consequences might be smuggling or the production of counterfeit drinks, and the loss of revenue for the UK government.. Consumers can still travel to France, load up a van or car with as much alcohol as they want.
Some US states have a legal drinking age in of 21. A higher minimum age, might make it easier for pubs to police under-age Yet Alcohol Concern, a pressure group, agrees but says it would be politically impossible to raise the drinking age. One thing to bear in mind is that laws need to be enforced to make them effective and to achieve the goal of lowering the consumption of demerit goods. Few off-licences and pub licensees appear to prosecuted for selling to under 18s.
In parts of Canada, and Sweden, drinkers only buy alcohol from state-owned shops. This may prevent impulse buys during a visit to a supermarket. But this might be a radical measure too far to gain support from free market Conservative MPs in The UK Coalition Government.
Politicians wanted encourage the drinks industry to support the Drink Aware Campaign, but were aware that this can lead to lower sales and profits for the drinks manufacturers. There was a potential conflict of interest, and some might wonder if the firms would really back it. A voluntary code of practice might be seen as a the lesser of two evils, as some medical pressure groups and politicians have introduced outright bans on tobacco advertising, and advocate a similar prohibition for alcoholic drinks.
Others are content to see government intervention on labelling drinks bottles, all now carry health warnings and state how many units of alcohol they contain, but as The House of Commons Select Committee observed in December 2011, “the pharmacological properties of alcohol…include loss of inhibitions in the short term and dependence in the long term, make it impractical to rely on a ‘nudge’ framework of ‘rational man making informed decisions’ about drinking alcohol to effect behaviour change.”
The House of Commons Select Committee questioned the effectiveness of existing Government Information on Alcohol, and suggested that campaigns focused on the short term acute risks associated with individual episodes of heavy drinking and (ii) the longer term chronic risks associated with regular drinking. (Do you want to end up like Father Jack Hackett?)
The MPs also wanted to highlight situations where it is not appropriate to drink at all, for example while operating machinery, and perhaps change the focus of Government Information Campaigns.
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