Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
That is the finding from a paper by Afoakwah et al. (2022) in JAMA Open. The authors use 2015-2019 data from the National Vital Statistics System, CDC WONDER, and the CDC’s Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) Application for 58 alcohol-related causes of death. They find that: During the 2015-2019 study period, of 694 660 mean deaths…
It is well known that excessive use of alcohol causes significant health impacts. CDC notes that Excessive alcohol use led to more than 140,000 deaths and 3.6 million years of potential life lost (YPLL) each year in the United States from 2015 – 2019, shortening the lives of those who died by an average of…
A recently finished reading Prohibition: A Concise History by W.J. Rorabaugh. The history is interesting throughout and concise indeed at only 133 pages. Some interesting excerpts include: Whenever a substance is banned two things happen. First, the price goes up, and second, the product returns in more concentrated form, or a replacement appears. The high risk…
It turns out that capitalism was not the cause of Russia’s current (largely alcohol-related) mortality crisis. From an NBER working paper by Bhattacharya, Gathmann, and Miller (2012): Political and economic transition is often blamed for Russia’s 40% surge in deaths between 1990 and 1994. Highlighting that increases in mortality occurred primarily among alcohol-related causes and…
According to Marshall Poe, drinking in college has more positives than negatives. “Rowdy drinking is not the problem. It is an essential, ineradicable, and largely positive element of American college culture. The problem is students who cannot or will not engage in rowdy drinking safely, for they often harm themselves and others.” How is drinking a…
Some of the biggest public health problems involve the use of drugs in alcohol. Individuals use drugs and alcohol because they receive some psychic benefit. However, this has a cost to their own health and often the health of others (e.g., drunk driving, increased homicide rates). Whether or not the government should be involved in…
I recently finished reading a very through, level-headed book analyzing the Economics of Alcohol Policy. The book is titled Paying the Tab: The costs and benefits of Alcohol Control by Philip Cook. The book focuses mostly on the costs of alcohol consumption. This is due to the fact that it is much easier to estimate…