Abstract
While the social cost of problematic alcohol use has been examined, limited information exists on the private cost incurred by consumers. Using Icelandic panel data and the compensating income variation (CIV) method we estimate this individual private cost. We examine results using different measures of problematic alcohol use, two non-linear functional forms for income, and two utility proxies. We estimate the yearly individual cost, or CIV, to be 4–62 thousand USD. These estimates are considerably higher if not adjusted for income endogeneity. Results suggest that the CIV method is highly sensitive to model specifications in two areas: (i) The modelling of income; log-transformation contrasted with a piecewise-linear form shows that high-income groups affect full sample CIVs substantially, highlighting differences between mean and median value-estimates. This raises ethical questions on the trade-off between utilitarian policies based on means and largely driven by high-income groups, versus policies guided by median values that benefit most individuals. (ii) The choice of utility proxy; the CIV using happiness is substantially higher than that obtained using life satisfaction. This highlights the need for policy makers to consider whether their objectives should focus on cognitive measures of subjective well-being or affective measures.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1513-1533 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | Applied Economics |
Volume | 55 |
Issue number | 14 |
Early online date | 19 Jul 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 27 Apr 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank the Directorate of Health in Iceland for provision of data and acknowledge funding from The Icelandic Research Fund (IRF grant number 184975-051) and the University of Iceland Eimskip Fund.
This study was funded by The Icelandic Research Fund [IRF grant number 184975-051] and the University of Iceland Eimskip Fund.
Data Availability Statement
Data is available from the Directorate of Health in Iceland upon approved application.Keywords
- Alcohol
- compensating income variation
- cost
- life satisfaction
- willingness-to-pay