Taxation decrease, alcohol consumption and harm

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Based on the Swiss taxation reform on spirits from 1999 and the resulting decreases in retail prices, a two-year follow-up study is proposed to test the following hypotheses. HI: That the proportion of spirits consumption within overall alcohol consumption will increase after the taxation change in Switzerland. H2: That heavy drinkers will be most responsive to changes in price of spirits. H3: That alcohol-related harm indicators will increase. H4: That increases in overall alcohol consumption are related to increases in problems independent of changes in spirits consumption. H5: That in regions with higher cultural integration of spirits price responsiveness will be smaller. H6: That the farther away the distance between home and the next customs post the higher the responsiveness to price. H7: That the number of risky situations and the alcohol consumed in risky situations will increase. The data set from this study will also allow the testing of methodological hypotheses about the reliability and validity of different assessment methods and retrospective assessment. The results of the study will improve our knowledge on assessing alcohol consumption including retrospective assessment and will improve the formulation of alcohol policy and preventive measures in the area of taxation. It will be important for alcohol policy in general and with recent privatization-deregulation experiences in North American and European Union, the study will help to estimate how price decreases affect consumption and harm.