The Effect of Sunday Sales Bans and Excise Taxes on Drinking and Cross-Border Shopping for Alcoholic Beverages‪.‬

INTRODUCTION Excessive consumption of alcohol has been associated with adverse health effects, including cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, gastritis, and various cancers (Friedman and Klatsky, 1993). Excessive drinking has also been charged with generating a myriad of negative outcomes stemming from behavioral change including highway fatalities (Ruhm, 1996), suicide (Carpenter, 2004), youth risky sexual behavior (Markowitz, Kaestner, and Grossman, 2005), transmission of STDs (Chesson, Harrison, and Kassler, 2000), child abuse (Markowitz and Grossman, 2000), nuisance crime (Carpenter, 2005), and workplace accidents (Ohsfeldt and Morrisey, 1997). Economic theory suggests that the market failure due to the presence of negative externalities may be corrected by the application of an excise tax, but Saffer and Chaloupka (1994) and Kenkel (1996) argue that excise taxes on alcoholic beverages are too low to correct for these externalities. In addition to concern for health and safety, many oppose consumption of alcoholic beverages because of moral or religious beliefs.