Abstract
A recent study published in the Journal of Health Economics by French and Zarkin [French, M.T., Zarkin, G.A., 1995. Is moderate alcohol use related to wages? Evidence from four worksites, Journal of Health Economics 14, 319- 344] found evidence of a positive, inverse-U-shaped relationship between wages and alcohol consumption for individuals at four worksites. In this paper, we attempted to replicate French and Zarkin's findings using a combined sample of prime-age workers from the 1991 and 1992 National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). Whereas French and Zarkin found that individuals who consume approximately 1.5 to 2.5 drinks per day have higher wages than non-drinkers and heavy drinkers, we found no evidence of a turning point at this consumption level for either men or women. Our results do suggest that men who use alcohol have approximately 7% higher wages than men who do not drink, and this apparent wage premium is approximately the same over a wide range of alcohol consumption. For women, the estimated alcohol use premium is approximately half as large as for men and is statistically insignificant.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 53-68 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Journal of Health Economics |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1998 |
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Keywords
- Alcohol use
- Productivity
- Wages
- Workplace
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Economics and Econometrics
Cite this
Alcohol use and wages : New results from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. / Zarkin, Gary A.; French, Michael; Mroz, Thomas; Bray, Jeremy W.
In: Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 17, No. 1, 01.1998, p. 53-68.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Alcohol use and wages
T2 - New results from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse
AU - Zarkin, Gary A.
AU - French, Michael
AU - Mroz, Thomas
AU - Bray, Jeremy W.
PY - 1998/1
Y1 - 1998/1
N2 - A recent study published in the Journal of Health Economics by French and Zarkin [French, M.T., Zarkin, G.A., 1995. Is moderate alcohol use related to wages? Evidence from four worksites, Journal of Health Economics 14, 319- 344] found evidence of a positive, inverse-U-shaped relationship between wages and alcohol consumption for individuals at four worksites. In this paper, we attempted to replicate French and Zarkin's findings using a combined sample of prime-age workers from the 1991 and 1992 National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). Whereas French and Zarkin found that individuals who consume approximately 1.5 to 2.5 drinks per day have higher wages than non-drinkers and heavy drinkers, we found no evidence of a turning point at this consumption level for either men or women. Our results do suggest that men who use alcohol have approximately 7% higher wages than men who do not drink, and this apparent wage premium is approximately the same over a wide range of alcohol consumption. For women, the estimated alcohol use premium is approximately half as large as for men and is statistically insignificant.
AB - A recent study published in the Journal of Health Economics by French and Zarkin [French, M.T., Zarkin, G.A., 1995. Is moderate alcohol use related to wages? Evidence from four worksites, Journal of Health Economics 14, 319- 344] found evidence of a positive, inverse-U-shaped relationship between wages and alcohol consumption for individuals at four worksites. In this paper, we attempted to replicate French and Zarkin's findings using a combined sample of prime-age workers from the 1991 and 1992 National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). Whereas French and Zarkin found that individuals who consume approximately 1.5 to 2.5 drinks per day have higher wages than non-drinkers and heavy drinkers, we found no evidence of a turning point at this consumption level for either men or women. Our results do suggest that men who use alcohol have approximately 7% higher wages than men who do not drink, and this apparent wage premium is approximately the same over a wide range of alcohol consumption. For women, the estimated alcohol use premium is approximately half as large as for men and is statistically insignificant.
KW - Alcohol use
KW - Productivity
KW - Wages
KW - Workplace
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0031961821&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0031961821&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0167-6296(97)00023-4
DO - 10.1016/S0167-6296(97)00023-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 10176315
AN - SCOPUS:0031961821
VL - 17
SP - 53
EP - 68
JO - Journal of Health Economics
JF - Journal of Health Economics
SN - 0167-6296
IS - 1
ER -