The effect of alcohol intake on income and academic performance

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K13369
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Public finance/Public economy
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: KAWAGUCHI Daiji 東京大学, 大学院経済学研究科(経済学部), 教授 (80346139)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 横山 泉 一橋大学, 大学院経済学研究科, 講師 (30712236)
• Research Collaborator: Lee JUNGMIN
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 飲酒 / 労働生産性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims to estimate the effect of alcohol intake on labor productivity. As an instrumental variable that determines the drinking behavior, we use an indicator variable indicating whether an individual has an enzyme that dissolves acetaldehyde.
We run a survey to obtain the results of a bio-maker test that indicates the type of the enzyme as well as labor market outcomes.
The analysis of data sets from Japan and Korea reveals that those who are classified as alcohol tolerant type drinks more frequently and larger amount in statistically significant manners; we also find that they earn more per hours.

Free Research Field

医療経済学