The Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign and Russia's Mortality Crisis
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 5,
no. 2, April 2013
(pp. 232-60)
Abstract
Political and economic transition is often blamed for Russia's 40 percent surge in deaths between 1990 and 1994. Highlighting that increases in mortality occurred primarily among alcohol-related causes and among working-age men (the heaviest drinkers), this paper investigates an alternative explanation: the demise of the 1985-1988 Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign. Using archival sources to build a new oblast-year dataset spanning 1978-2000, we find a variety of evidence suggesting that the campaign's end explains a large share of the mortality crisis, implying that Russia's transition to capitalism and democracy was not as lethal as commonly suggested. (JEL D72, I12, I18, P26, P36)Citation
Bhattacharya, Jay, Christina Gathmann, and Grant Miller. 2013. "The Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign and Russia's Mortality Crisis." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5 (2): 232-60. DOI: 10.1257/app.5.2.232Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- I12 Health Production
- I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
- P26 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Political Economy; Property Rights
- P36 Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training: Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty
Consistent results
It is very interesting that the findings of this article are consistent with an article just published in The Lancet (January 2014), which collected data on 151,000 adults between 1999—2008 and follows them for cause-specific mortality until 2010.
Best Wishes,
Marcos Vera-Hernandez