10 Solutions to Binge Drinking

Last week David Cameron called binge drinking a “scandal” and referred to the negative externalities that are incurred by 3rd parties - in this case the NHS, to the tune of £2.7bn a year. He pledged to introduce drunk tanks whilst there are plans for a minimum price for alcohol.

The BBC website today has an excellent article that would be an excellent starting point for a discussion on the ways that the government might intervene to correct the market failure arising from the negative externalities associated with binge drinking. The 10 ‘radical solutions’ mentioned in the article are:

1. Subtly make drinks weaker
2. Enforce a minimum price for alcohol
3. Get people back into pubs
4. Raise the legal drinking age
5. Nationalise off-licenses
6. Discourage rounds
7. Ban alcohol marketing
8. Target middle class professionals
9. Not in front of the children
10. Stop exaggerating the problem

This would be an excellent opportunity for students to apply these ideas to the problem of binge drinking and practice their analytical and evaluation skills. Whilst reading the supporting paragraphs in the article for each suggestion you may wish to consider the following:

a) Using economic terminology and diagram analysis, how would each of these options reduce the market failure associated with binge drinking. How might each option affect private costs and the amount of quantity demand / quantity supplied of alcohol?

b) How effective would each option be? Can you spot any problems with each method? Would each option achieve the desired outcome?

A good way to approach the evaluation of each option might consider the WEESTEPS approach to evaluation highlighted in Jim’s blog