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ADVERTISING RESTRICTIONS, COMPETITION, AND ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION
Author(s) -
Tremblay Victor J.,
Okuyama Kumiko
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
contemporary economic policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.454
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1465-7287
pISSN - 1074-3529
DOI - 10.1093/cep/19.3.313
Subject(s) - consumption (sociology) , competition (biology) , advertising , economics , alcohol consumption , affect (linguistics) , business , alcohol , ecology , social science , sociology , biology , biochemistry , chemistry , linguistics , philosophy
Distilled spirits producers recently voted to eliminate their voluntary ban on broadcast advertising. The ban received public support because of the high social cost associated with alcohol consumption and the belief that advertising promotes alcohol consumption and abuse. In spite of this belief, the empirical evidence indicates that advertising has no significant effect on the market demand for distilled spirits. This evidence has led many policy economists to conclude that eliminating the ban will have no effect on alcohol consumption. The purpose of this research is to show that this conclusion is incorrect because it ignores the fact that advertising restrictions may affect industry competition as well as market demand.