Is the demand for alcohol in Indigenous Australian communities ‘price inelastic’?

Objective: To review the findings of a paper that has often been cited as evidence—with potentially adverse public health consequences—that the demand for alcohol in Indigenous Australian communities is not responsive to price and that, in the face of increasing alcohol prices, expenditure is divert...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gray, Dennis
Format: Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/45431
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author Gray, Dennis
author_facet Gray, Dennis
author_sort Gray, Dennis
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Objective: To review the findings of a paper that has often been cited as evidence—with potentially adverse public health consequences—that the demand for alcohol in Indigenous Australian communities is not responsive to price and that, in the face of increasing alcohol prices, expenditure is diverted from basic sustenance to the purchase of alcohol. Methods: The raw data on income and various items of expenditure from the original study were entered in a database, a trend variable was created, and trends in measures of interest were tested using appropriate cross-correlations. Results: Re-analysis of the data did not support the findings of the original study. Conclusions: The original study does not contradict the general findings of the national and international literature that the demand for alcohol is sensitive to increases in price and does not provide evidence for the assertion that, other factors being equal, price controls on the availability of alcohol in Indigenous communities are likely to be ineffective.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-454312017-09-13T16:07:46Z Is the demand for alcohol in Indigenous Australian communities ‘price inelastic’? Gray, Dennis alcohol Indigenous price elasticity of demand Objective: To review the findings of a paper that has often been cited as evidence—with potentially adverse public health consequences—that the demand for alcohol in Indigenous Australian communities is not responsive to price and that, in the face of increasing alcohol prices, expenditure is diverted from basic sustenance to the purchase of alcohol. Methods: The raw data on income and various items of expenditure from the original study were entered in a database, a trend variable was created, and trends in measures of interest were tested using appropriate cross-correlations. Results: Re-analysis of the data did not support the findings of the original study. Conclusions: The original study does not contradict the general findings of the national and international literature that the demand for alcohol is sensitive to increases in price and does not provide evidence for the assertion that, other factors being equal, price controls on the availability of alcohol in Indigenous communities are likely to be ineffective. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/45431 10.1111/j.1465-3362.2012.00425.x Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. restricted
spellingShingle alcohol
Indigenous
price elasticity of demand
Gray, Dennis
Is the demand for alcohol in Indigenous Australian communities ‘price inelastic’?
title Is the demand for alcohol in Indigenous Australian communities ‘price inelastic’?
title_full Is the demand for alcohol in Indigenous Australian communities ‘price inelastic’?
title_fullStr Is the demand for alcohol in Indigenous Australian communities ‘price inelastic’?
title_full_unstemmed Is the demand for alcohol in Indigenous Australian communities ‘price inelastic’?
title_short Is the demand for alcohol in Indigenous Australian communities ‘price inelastic’?
title_sort is the demand for alcohol in indigenous australian communities ‘price inelastic’?
topic alcohol
Indigenous
price elasticity of demand
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/45431