142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

309256
Social and Health Effects of Changes in Alcohol Prices: Findings and Tools from a Research Collaborative

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 2:50 PM - 3:10 PM

David H. Jernigan, PhD , Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Alexander C. Wagenaar, PhD , College of Medicine, Dept of Health Outcomes and Policy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Timothy S. Naimi, MD, MPH , Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
Frank J. Chaloupka, PhD , Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Background: Scientific reviews overwhelmingly document the effects of increasing alcohol taxes on reducing alcohol consumption and related problems. To assist translation of this research into public health practice, a research collaborative formed to fill key gaps in the evidence base.

Methods: Teams from four universities used a variety of methods to evaluate short-term health impacts of recent alcohol tax increases, develop case studies of recent campaigns, assess employment impacts of various tax scenarios, and model individual economic impacts of tax scenarios on excessive vs. non-excessive drinkers and by employment and income group. Findings from the latter two studies were developed into on-line tools to presenting findings by state.

Results: Recent alcohol tax increases have influenced health. They do not result in job losses, and their effects are felt at the individual level most heavily by excessive drinkers and employed persons. Case study research documents multiple routes to alcohol tax increases. On-line tools exist and provide estimates of employment and individual effects of different tax scenarios for each of the 50 states.

Conclusions: Increases in alcohol taxes reduce negative effects of excessive alcohol consumption. On-line tools, case studies and other research from this collaborative can be significant resources for states considering alcohol tax increases.

Learning Areas:

Advocacy for health and health education
Biostatistics, economics
Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the effects of alcohol taxes on employment and on individual drinkers and non-drinkers. Identify on-line tools to inform states considering increasing alcohol excise or sales taxes. Compare state experiences in increasing alcohol taxes.

Keyword(s): Alcohol Use, Public Health Policy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the principal investigator of the research collaborative on social and health effects of changes in alcohol pricing on which we are reporting in this presentation. I have worked in the alcohol policy field since 1986 and have personally been part of multiple state-level alcohol tax campaigns.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.