Essays on the Short-Term Impact of Minimum Unit Pricing Policy in Scotland
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation consists of two chapters, and it evaluates the short-term impact of Scotland’s Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) policy on a variety of outcome measures. Excessive alcohol consumption has long been considered one of Scotland’s greatest public health challenges, and in an attempt to change this harmful relationship with alcohol, the Scottish Government proposed an alcohol strategy comprising of over 40 measures, a central part of which was the introduction of a statutory minimum price of 50 pence per unit (10ml/8gr) of alcohol known as Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP). This policy aims to reduce alcohol consumption, and in turn, alcohol associated health and social harms, by targeting alcohol products that are cheap relative to their alcohol content. Though variations of minimum pricing had been successfully implemented in other regions before, Scotland is the first country to introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol – a measure focusing solely on alcohol content, and not the type of product. Chapter 1: In May 2018, Scotland became the first country in the world to enforce a Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) of 50 pence ($0.63) on alcoholic beverages as a measure to control alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harms. This paper presents early estimates of the impact of MUP on three outcomes: average price per unit (8 gr/10 ml) of alcohol, liters of alcohol sold per adult, and liters of alcohol sold per adult drinker, in three different settings: off-premise, on-premise and both combined. Using yearly alcohol price and sales data from 2011 to 2019, I find that the average price per unit of alcohol has significantly risen post-MUP across all beverage categories (beer, spirits, wine, cider and alcohol-all types), whereas liters of alcohol sold per adult and per adult drinker have significantly reduced for beer, spirits, cider and alcohol-all types. For all outcomes, the impact of MUP on off-premise alcohol prices and sales is more pronounced than under the combine…
abstract: This dissertation consists of two chapters, and it evaluates the short-term impact of Scotland’s Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) policy on a variety of outcome measures. Excessive alcohol consumption has long been considered one of Scotland’s greatest public health challenges, and in an attempt to change this harmful relationship with alcohol, the Scottish Government proposed an alcohol strategy comprising of over 40 measures, a central part of which was the introduction of a statutory minimum price of 50 pence per unit (10ml/8gr) of alcohol known as Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP). This policy aims to reduce alcohol consumption, and in turn, alcohol associated health and social harms, by targeting alcohol products that are cheap relative to their alcohol content. Though variations of minimum pricing had been successfully implemented in other regions before, Scotland is the first country to introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol – a measure focusing solely on alcohol content, and not the type of product. Chapter 1: In May 2018, Scotland became the first country in the world to enforce a Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) of 50 pence ($0.63) on alcoholic beverages as a measure to control alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harms. This paper presents early estimates of the impact of MUP on three outcomes: average price per unit (8 gr/10 ml) of alcohol, liters of alcohol sold per adult, and liters of alcohol sold per adult drinker, in three different settings: off-premise, on-premise and both combined. Using yearly alcohol price and sales data from 2011 to 2019, I find that the average price per unit of alcohol has significantly risen post-MUP across all beverage categories (beer, spirits, wine, cider and alcohol-all types), whereas liters of alcohol sold per adult and per adult drinker have significantly reduced for beer, spirits, cider and alcohol-all types. For all outcomes, the impact of MUP on off-premise alcohol prices and sales is more pronounced than under the combine…
author: Xhurxhi, Irena P
keywords: Econometrics, Health Economics, alcoholism, health behavior, substance abuse, treatment effect models, Scotland
date published: 2020-09-01T07:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:00:04Z
provider: City University of New York - Graduate Center
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York