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Alcohol licensing hours and absenteeism [study] |
A study at the University of Lancaster examining public statistics suggests that longer licensing hours have lead to an increase in people taking time off work. Despite the large number of different factors that can affect absenteeism, the authors of this study were quite thorough and believe they have found a strong causal link between longer licensing hours and people taking time off work. They found that women were disproportionately affected and longer opening hours could also be associated with an increase in the incidence of health problems. In 2005, the UK government allowed venues to apply for license to serve alcohol till 5:00am when previously they were forced to stop at 11:00pm. This was said to be an effort to curb binge drinking. In Spain, hours were restricted from 6:00am to 3:00am citing concerns about drunkenness. This created a “quasi-natural” experiment. This means that different groups of people could be observed having been exposed to different factors, however the factors were not under the control of the scientists as in a traditional experiment. They were able to compare the changes across different countries as well as between different regions that responded to the new regulations at different times. They were able to compare Scotland and Northern Ireland where there was no change in the law as a sort of “placebo”. The British Labour Force Survey actually follows individual people across a period of months so individuals’ behaviour could be compared before and after the change in regulation. Other factors were adjusted for such as age, gender and excluding certain people who might be affected by the regulations in other ways such as those who work in bars. The scientists found that even examining the data from these different angles they came up with the same results which made them think that the change was not due to external factors.
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/greencp/papers/PlayHardShirkHard.pdf |