The Minimum Legal Drinking Age and Crime Victimization / Aaron Chalfin, Benjamin Hansen, Rachel Ryley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chalfin, Aaron.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Hansen, Benjamin.

Ryley, Rachel.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w26051.

NBER working paper series no. w26051

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2019.

Summary:

For every crime there is a victim. However nearly all studies in the economics of crime have focused the causal determinants of criminality. We present novel evidence on the causal determinants of victimization, focusing on legal access to alcohol. The social costs of alcohol use and abuse are sizable and well-documented. We find criminal victimization for both violent and property crimes increases noticeably at age 21. Effects are not present at other birthdays and do not appear to be driven by a birth-day "celebration effect." The effects are particularly large for sexual assaults, especially those that occur in public locations. Our results suggest prior research which has focused on criminality has understated the true social costs associated with increased access to alcohol.

Notes:

Print version record

July 2019.