Excessive alcohol consumption can have numerous adverse health effects; accordingly, reductions in alcohol consumption related to price increases might also reduce adverse health effects. Several studies have examined the impact of alcohol prices on liver cirrhosis mortality rates, a key adverse outcome associated with long-term heavy alcohol consumption that accounts for more than 20,000 deaths annually. For example, Cook and Tauchen (1982) analyzed annual State-level cirrhosis mortality rates for States that licensed the sale of alcoholic beverages from 1962 through 1977. The investigators concluded that increases in the excise taxes on distilled spirits would significantly reduce deaths from liver cirrhosis. For example, a $1 increase in the distilled spirits tax was estimated to lower cirrhosis death rates by 5.4 to 10.8 percent. Thus, the study contradicted the then-conventional wisdom that heavy, addictive alcohol consumption was unresponsive to price.
