The subjects were recruited from participants in a health examination of random samples of the adult population in Stockholm county. Those aged 18-64 years who admitted a high alcohol consumption (greater than 40 g 100% ethanol/day) among men and greater than 30 g among women) or had an elevated value of serum-gammaglutamyltransferase (GGT) (cut-off point 1.0 microkatal/l for men and 0.6 microkatal/l for women) or had certain other indications of a high alcohol consumption were included. More severe cases, and those with an elevated GGT due to reasons other than alcohol, were excluded. The remaining subjects, 70 men and 13 women, were allocated at random to either an intervention or a comparison group. An elevated GGT was the main inclusion criteria. The subjects in the comparison group were advised by the general practitioner to cut their alcohol consumption, while those in the intervention group made further visits to their general practitioner, who gave general support and used an elevated GGT as an indication of the recent level of alcohol consumption at consecutive visits. There were three visits on average, so we are comparing a group receiving advice with a group receiving further minimal intervention. At the one-year follow-up there were greater, however not significant, reduction in GGT-level, in self-reported alcohol consumption and in a 'problem index' in the minimal intervention group than in the comparison group.

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Nyman, K. and B. Schwarz: Evaluating housing policies from an income-distribution perspective-the case of Sweden. SHPR 8: 221-238, 1991.One purpose of this article is to examine under what conditions the impact of housing policies on the distribution of income becomes a major focus of interest. First we review various arguments in favour of tying transfers to specific types of consumption, and outline the historical development of Swedish housing policies in this light. We find that the interest in the impact of housing subsidies on the distribution of income stems from the 1970s when the housing supply became more adequate. We argue that the Swedish housing allowance system is of special interest in connection with income distribution considerations. The system's impact on the income distribution is evaluated here with the help of a microsimulation model. It is shown to be quite efficient in the sense that it consistently benefits households with a low "equivalent" income, i.e. a low income in relation to needs. We also find that the new housing allowance system has a crucial impact on the distributional outcome of the 1991 tax-benefit reform, a major reform package in Sweden which includes large cuts in housing subsidies.