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In a recent article appearing in this Journal, McGuinness 3 explores the effects of income, prices, advertising and availability on the consumption of alcohol in the UK. His conclusions regarding the effects of advertising on consumption have attracted considerable attention 1, 5. From an economic viewpoint his findings regarding the relatively weak and uncertain influence of income on the growth of demand are equally notable. The purpose of the present Comment is to show that certain unusual features of McGuinness's analysis have important implications for his reported findings. McGuinness's regression analysis is based on the first differences of 21 annual observations, 1955-75. The general approach used is illustrated by the following representative equation:
Brendan Walsh (Tue,) studied this question.