Habits, consumption and public control

[摘要] When the Finnish alcohol law was reformedin January 2018, the availability of alcoholicbeverages in grocery stores increased. Thepercentage of alcoholic content for retailsales was raised from 4.7% to 5.5%, and therequirement of production by fermentationwas abolished. Uusitalo and colleagues(2022) have studied how the inclusion ofstrong beers, ciders, and ready-to-drink beverages in grocery stores impacted on alcoholpurchases. The researchers of the study havecome up with an innovative way of avoidingempirical uncertainties pertaining to selfreporting and low survey participation. Over47 000 loyalty card accounts from thelargest food retailer in Finland have been analyzed, covering the time period between 1January 2017 and 31 December 2018. Thestudy shows no overall change in the totalpurchases of alcohol or beer but a smallincrease in ready-to-drink beverages. Totalalcohol purchases increased only in the threehighest income groups, but decreased in thetwo lowest groups. The study still concludeson a classic alcohol policy note: the authorssee that higher prices probably curbed theexpected increased purchases among lowerincome groups and younger consumers.

[学科分类] 微生物学和免疫学