Jan Bentzen () and Valdemar Smith ()
Additional contact information
Jan Bentzen: Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business, Postal: The Aarhus School of Business, Prismet, Silkeborgvej 2, DK 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Valdemar Smith: Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business, Postal: The Aarhus School of Business, Prismet, Silkeborgvej 2, DK 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Abstract: Traditionally, the Scandinavian countries have been characterized as spirits and beer consuming countries and a century ago the historical background was decades of relatively heavy drinking behaviour with spirit as the preferred beverage. Therefore, it might be expected that alcohol consumption – especially in the last part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century – would behave in a counter-cyclical manner, i.e. heavy drinking during severe recessions characterized by harsh economic conditions. Using long-run time series data for alcohol consumption levels in the Scandinavian countries the question of a counter-cyclical or pro-cyclical behaviour is addressed – with the business cycle measured as the GDP – and the empirical findings are that generally, alcohol consumption behaves in a pro-cyclical manner in the short run, and with no long-run relationship concerning real income.
Keywords: Alcohol consumption; Business cycles; Scandinavia
22 pages, December 10, 2004
Full text files
04-14_jbvs.pdf
Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Helle Vinbaek Stenholt ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().
RePEc:hhs:aareco:2004_014This page generated on 2024-09-13 22:19:12.