Evaluating the Impact of Minimum Unit Pricing on Alcohol Consumption in Scotland - Evidence from Individual Level Survey Data

Sammanfattning

In 2018, Scotland implemented Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP), a price-based alcohol policy designed to reduce alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm. This thesis estimates the causal effect of MUP on individual-level alcohol consumption using a difference-in-differences (DD) design. Using repeated cross-sectional individual survey data with Scotland as the treatment group and England as the control group, the analysis examines four outcomes capturing both the extensive and intensive margins of alcohol consumption. It also explores whether effects differ across drinking risk categories, gender and educational level. The results suggest that MUP reduced alcohol consumption on the intensive margin, with heterogeneity seen across risk groups and sub analyses for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.