Rational alcohol addiction: Evidence from the Russian longitudinal monitoring survey

Badi H. Baltagi, Ingo Geishecker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

Alcohol consumption in Russia is legendary and has been reported to be the third leading cause of death in the former Soviet Union after heart disease and cancer. Are Russian alcohol consumers rational addicts? This paper uses eight rounds of a nationally representative Russian survey spanning the period 1994-2003 to estimate a rational addiction (RA) model for alcohol consumption. This is done in a panel data setting as well as on a wave-by-wave basis. The profile of the Russian drinker finds a huge difference between males and females and the model is estimated by gender. We do not find support for the RA model in Russia for women. For men, although we find that some implications of the RA model are satisfied, we fail to endorse the model empirically on grounds of implausible negative estimates of the discount rate.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)893-914
Number of pages22
JournalHealth Economics
Volume15
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2006

Keywords

  • Liquor consumption
  • Panel data
  • Rational addiction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health Policy

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