Did liberalising bar hours decrease traffic accidents?

Legal bar closing times in England and Wales have historically been early and uniform. Recent legislation liberalised closing times with the object of reducing social problems thought associated with drinking to “beat the clock.” Indeed, using both difference in difference and synthetic control appr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of health economics 2014-05, Vol.35, p.189-198
Main Authors: Green, Colin P., Heywood, John. S., Navarro, Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidents, Traffic - mortality
Accidents, Traffic - prevention & control
Accidents, Traffic - trends
Adolescent
Adult
Age Distribution
Alcohol
Alcohol Drinking - adverse effects
Alcohol Drinking - economics
Alcohol Drinking - legislation & jurisprudence
Alcoholic Beverages - adverse effects
Alcoholic Beverages - economics
Alcoholic Beverages - supply & distribution
Bar hours
Bars
Clocks
Commerce - economics
Commerce - legislation & jurisprudence
Drinking
Economics
England - epidemiology
England and Wales
Government Regulation
Health administration
Humans
Impact analysis
Legislation
Liberalization
Middle Aged
Morning
Regulation
Robustness
Social problems
Studies
Time Factors
Traffic accidents
Traffic accidents & safety
Wales - epidemiology
Young Adult
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Description
Summary:Legal bar closing times in England and Wales have historically been early and uniform. Recent legislation liberalised closing times with the object of reducing social problems thought associated with drinking to “beat the clock.” Indeed, using both difference in difference and synthetic control approaches we show that one consequence of this liberalisation was a decrease in traffic accidents. This decrease is heavily concentrated among younger drivers. Moreover, we provide evidence that the effect was most pronounced in the hours of the week directly affected by the liberalisation: late nights and early mornings on weekends. This evidence survives a series of robustness checks and suggests at least one socially positive consequence of extending bar hours.
ISSN:0167-6296
1879-1646
DOI:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2014.03.007