Blind Tigers and Red-Tape Cocktails: Liquor Control and Homicide in Late-Nineteenth-Century South Carolina

Bodenhorn, Howard

doi:10.3386/w22980

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Our paper is broadly related to a literature which focuses on assessing the effects of statelevel measures prior to federal prohibition on variables such as the incidence of adult heights (Evans et al, 2016), cirrhosis (Dills and Miron, 2004), and homicide (Bodenhorn, 2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

Infant Mortality and the Repeal of Federal Prohibition

Jacks

Pendakur

Shigeoka

2021

The Economic Journal

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Using new data on county-level variation in alcohol prohibition from 1933 to 1939, we investigate whether the repeal of federal prohibition increased infant mortality, both in counties and states that repealed and in neighboring counties. We find that repeal is associated with a 4.0% increase in infant mortality rates in counties that chose wet status via local option elections or state-wide legislation and with a 4.7% increase in neighboring dry counties, suggesting a large role for cross-border policy externalities. These estimates imply that roughly 27,000 excess infant deaths could be attributed to the repeal of federal prohibition in this period.

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confidence: 99%

Infant Mortality and the Repeal of Federal Prohibition

Jacks

Pendakur

Shigeoka

2021

The Economic Journal

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“…Employing a similar source of variation but using city‐level homicide data, Livingstone () finds that prohibition decreased homicide rates but only for a 3‐year period, after which homicides returned to their preprohibition levels. Finally, Bodenhorn () takes advantage of cross‐county differences in the enforcement of South Carolina's 1893 prohibition statute and finds that in counties that enforced the law more vigorously, prohibition increased the homicide rate by 30%–60%.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Did Early Twentieth‐century Alcohol Prohibition Affect Mortality?

Law

Marks

2019

Economic Inquiry

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We investigate the contemporaneous mortality consequences of alcohol prohibition laws introduced in America between 1900 and 1920. We improve on existing studies by constructing a time‐varying measure of prohibition at the state level that corrects for the timing of prohibition enforcement and accounts for the presence of dry counties. Using summary indices that aggregate alcohol‐related mortality due to disease and poor decisions, we find that prohibition significantly reduced mortality rates. These findings are corroborated with an area‐level analysis that exploits data on deaths in urban areas that were wet prior to statewide or federal prohibition and nonurban areas that were partially dry. (JEL I18, N4, K2)

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“…2 Put differently, when we apply these estimates to all the counties in the US from 1934 to 1939, a back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests an excess of 26,960 infant deaths that could potentially be attributed to the repeal of federal prohibition. 3 Our paper is broadly related to a literature which focuses on assessing the effects of statelevel measures prior to federal prohibition on variables such as adult heights and weights (Evans et al, 2016), the incidence of cirrhosis (Dills and Miron, 2004), and homicide rates (Bodenhorn, 2016). However, we are alone in studying the effects of federal prohibition's repeal and do so in the context of county-as opposed to state-level variation in prohibition laws.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%