Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/185103 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 11643
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
A growing body of evidence suggests large increases in criminal behavior and mortality coinciding with a young adult's 21st birthday, when alcohol consumption becomes legal. The policy implications from these findings have focused on the need to reduce drinking among young people, potentially by enforcing stricter alcohol controls. However, mortality and arrests are relatively infrequent outcomes and relatively less is known about the intermediate and more prevalent consequences of legal access to alcohol at age 21. This paper uses the Add Health data combined with a regression discontinuity approach to examine the effects of alcohol access on sexual behavior, drunk driving, violence, and other outcomes. The results suggest relatively large effects that appear concentrated in men. The sample also allows some suggestive policy implications on whether changing the minimum drinking age may reduce these consequences.
Subjects: 
minimum legal drinking age
regression discontinuity
risky behaviors
JEL: 
I12
I18
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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