Effects of Changes in Availability of Alcohol: Unexpected Results Can Stimulate Theory Development and Research

This is an interesting and important report (Gustafsson, 2010) from the Nordic Tax Study, of a quasi-experimental situation created by changes in alcohol availability, initiated by Robin Room and others and conducted mainly by researchers from the Nordic countries. The starting point was the great increase in alcohol availability in southern Sweden. Denmark, which is close to southern Sweden by bridge from Copenhagen and a short-distance by ferry, reduced its spirits tax by 45% on 1 October 2003, while on 1 January 2004 Sweden markedly increased quotas for travellers from the EU (which includes Denmark) to almost unlimited amounts. The Nordic Tax Study has impressively resulted in about 25 scientific reports so far. This paper from Nina-Katri Gustafsson is one of four papers in her PhD thesis ‘Bridging the world. Alcohol policy in transition and diverging alcohol patterns in Sweden’ (Gustafsson, unpublished thesis, May 2010). The aims were to study whether in southern Sweden self-reported alcohol-related social problems changed in the same direction as self-reported alcohol consumption, using as a control a carefully selected area in northern Sweden where there had been no significant changes in availability, and to compare the …