TOPIC:

Way ahead of you <!-- s;-) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;-) -->
One thing that occured to me was that no-one has tried to back up the argument of increasing tax with any sort of statistic to say how much they would be reducing alcohol consumption by if they increased tax.
There is an economic variable called the 'price elasticity of demand' which measures the change in demand (ie how much is sold) against a change in price. Alcohol has always had a very low PED (ie people consume more-or-less the same amount regardless of the price). Tobacco and petrol are the other 2 items with a similarly inelastic response to price.
On that basis I'd have to agree with Sean - this is just a way of justifying a *big* *stoopid* increase in tax on booze. People will flock north of the border for booze and the govt will be worse off

Which sort of drinking is more likely to be binge?

See a pack of beer in the supermarket on a friday and buy a crate or go up north and fill your car with beer. I'm not being facetious here. Does regular buying of "small" amounts or occasional large trips result in more excessive drinking?


I found one piece of evidence that suggests that when people have money/food they eat it. The daily discount rate seems to suggest if people have excess booze lying around they will drink more[/url:diowp4or] (pdf).
Though i could be wrong in my interpretation.

&amp;quot;Irish Party Ale&amp;quot;:2nnw3uwt wrote: One thing that occured to me was that no-one has tried to back up the argument of increasing tax with any sort of statistic to say how much they would be reducing alcohol consumption by if they increased tax.[/quote:2nnw3uwt]They have, I think. I've just never taken the time to go through it properly. The table is here[/url:2nnw3uwt], and is the basis for Scotland's decision to go with minimum pricing. The full report by the University of Sheffield is here[/url:2nnw3uwt], with price elasticity dealt with from p.31 (there are a couple of other parts of the report linked from this page[/url:2nnw3uwt]). It's got maths in. Have we got anyone interested in maths?

Now you've done it. That's one of my bugbears, that is.

Have a look at my article from a year and a half ago: Alcohol consumption in Ireland[/url:23dxwo91]. In it I examine a report from the HSE which claims to prove that price inflation is an effective way of reducing alcohol consumption. If you actually look at the figures, it proves nothing of the sort, but the report says it does and that is all the government care about.

&amp;quot;a_friend_in_mead&amp;quot;:3t3so3b1 wrote: Which sort of drinking is more likely to be binge?[/quote:3t3so3b1]Should the question rather be "What sort of buying pattern is associated with binge drinking?"
When I was 18 I would have bought a crate of beer and drank it that weekend. Now I might by 2 or 3 crates of beer and they'd last a couple of months. But most of the times Ive ended up worse for the wear Ive been in a pub.
So Im not sure there would be a clear link between a specific purchase pattern and binge drinking...

"What sort of buying pattern is associated with binge drinking?"
That is what the question should have been <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt="" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->

If you accept that humans have a daily discount rate. And that paper provides evidence they do. Then their consumption is front loaded to enjoyment now.

This might not be major news to anyone who was ever a student and spent for the first week of the month and starved for the last.

Take binge drinking to be 5 standard drinks in a row during the last 30 days[/url:1cscsflx]. Now the difference might not be that much. As anyone nearly drinking a six pack in one night is binge drinking. So* it does not matter if they only bought a six pack and drank 5 of them or whether they polished off a crate they are still binge drinking.

*actually thats stupid of course it matters just maybe not for this measurement.