EPQ

This was an extended project which I undertook alongside my A-Levels exploring the economic theories behind the influence of alcohol on young people.

The PDF file can be downloaded here:   ->   EPQ  (2012)

The conclusions I drew from the project were as follows:

 

Overall Conclusions

On the surface, the UK’s alcohol control policies seem wholly ineffective in influencing young drinkers. However, there are signs that some policies show of being quite successful and there are many schemes in place that, given time, can be very effective.  Schemes coming into place to help further limit underage drinking could show signs of success if they were used more vigilantly and on a broader scale; the ‘tagging’ scheme in Scotland mentioned on page 4 could help to solve the most problematic cause of underage drinking of people buying youngsters drink on their behalf. However, this does have serious time lag issues involved and is not very effective in the short run.

Furthermore, the ‘Challenge 21’ scheme does seem to show some signs of success in that around 90% of 18-24 year olds are aware of the scheme;[1] however, many places that adopt this scheme simply choose to not verify customer identification in an effort to boost profits whilst neglecting the law. In general, it is very easy for young people to acquire alcohol under the age of 18 in the UK and it is this specific age group of young drinkers which abuse this loophole the most.

Secondly, although many people feel that alcohol tends to be over-priced within the UK (and indeed it is as shown in the table on page 5), high alcohol taxes often prove ineffective in influencing people significantly. This is because, as has often been pointed out, the level of real household disposable income is constantly rising in the UK whilst the taxing of alcohol has maintained at a constant, albeit high, level. This means the affordability of alcohol has actually increased (see page 6) and for many youngsters, high alcohol pricing is what they are used to so are therefore less likely to be influenced by high alcohol taxes. On the other hand, as found in the project survey, alcohol taxes could be deemed reasonably successful in influencing young drinkers specifically. The results of the survey on page 33 showed that those aged under-18 considered alcohol to be, on average, more expensive than what was thought by those aged over 18. This is most likely due to the fact that people aged between 18 and 24 have higher levels of disposable income so do not consider high alcohol taxes to be such a significant issue; whereas those aged under-18 who were more likely to have low levels of disposable income were probably influenced by alcohol taxing to a greater extent. Although this shows that alcohol taxing could be deemed reasonably successful, evidence shows that youngsters are still not influenced by high alcohol prices to a large enough extent. This could be because of an issue of British culture; the UK has some of the largest alcohol related problems in Europe even though it has some of the highest alcohol taxes – maybe the problem of youngsters drinking excessively is unsolvable through alcohol taxes?

As far as educational policies are concerned, even though the recent changes to the National Curriculum to include alcohol education for ages 5 to 16 seem, on the surface, to be quite effective, it is difficult to tell how successful such a programme will prove to be considering the time lags involved. However, from the NHS Information Centre’s report – Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England –it is clear to see that parents have a direct and significant influence on their children’s attitudes towards alcohol (see pages 8 and 9). Additionally, the survey results do seem to show signs that parental influence has a slight dominance over alcohol education in influencing young drinkers; thus following the view that youngsters are more likely to go to their parents on advice about alcohol, rather than seek professional educational services.

Moreover, there is also significant evidence to suggest that adults and parents themselves are not satisfactorily educated on the dangers of alcohol and therefore cannot always provide their children with correct or useful information and advice concerning alcohol. Once the effects of the Alcohol Education Schools Programme can be fully analysed in a few years, the Government should then decide whether to look at educating adults on the dangers of alcohol. Nonetheless, the detailed alcohol programme in the current National Curriculum should most certainly remain as an important foundation for educating youngsters about the dangers of alcohol and hopefully this will prove to be a successful policy employed by the Government.

Generally, this project established the idea that alcohol advertising is one of the most powerful tools employed by companies to boost their sales. Evidence shows that increasing advertising campaigns on alcohol is directly linked to alcohol consumption – especially among youngsters (see page 18).

The main reason that so many youngsters drink lager these days is because companies want them drinking this specific type of beer because lager is easier to store than bitter and so easier to increase revenue figures. Companies want to maximise their profits so aim lager products at youngsters who are easily manipulated into drinking lager and are the highest age group of alcohol consumers – however, they do not need to influence all youngsters; if the adverts impact only a minority of youngsters, then peer pressure helps in increasing levels of drinking lager.The UK government can employ many different policies regarding age restrictions and licensing hours (etc.) but reducing alcohol advertising is clearly one of the more important factors that needs to be considered; they were able to ban advertising on tobacco so they certainly have the powers to ban alcohol advertisements.

As far as licensing hours are concerned, a case study on Chelmsford regarding ‘late-night’ drinking demonstrated that the Licensing Act has made some differences to the dispersal of youths, however, these were not the differences intended when licensing reform was first introduced, nor have the changes been experienced in a uniform fashion. Admittedly, dispersal of youngsters throughout the UK has improved with staggered closing hours; however, this has affected policing massively and still does not control the problem of excessive drinking amongst youngsters – proving that UK licensing hour policies are rather ineffective in influencing young drinkers. In general, there was little to be said for public drinking laws, which only really holds a very small proportion of the problem of excessive drinking within the UK.

Overall, it would seem that of the six main policies I have assessed, none are entirely effective in influencing young drinkers; although some policies such as education and taxing do show some signs of success, evaluation of the main problems the UK faces will show that there are measures which can, and should, be taken to help influence youngsters regarding the dangers of alcohol abuse.

 

Evaluation 

MAIN PROBLEMS	POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS?
Schemes such as the ‘Challenge 21’ scheme, which aim to restrict the ability for youngsters to obtain alcohol underage are highly ineffective. Usually, it is adults who buy alcohol for children on their behalf even though this is illegal.	This is a problem which is almost unsolvable and nearly all solutions have minor technicalities. The ‘tagging’ scheme mentioned on page 4 could help to limit this kind of occurrence, however there are very obvious loopholes that have been outlined with this scheme already. One rather extreme solution to this problem, which would be quite effective in the short and long run, would be to increase the punishments involved in buying alcohol and giving it to minors. Adults would be less likely to take the risk of buying alcohol for their children if it could involve them going to prison. However, the obvious problems with this are that it could lead to higher levels of crime with youngsters shoplifting alcohol if the consequences of this are not as great as getting an adult to purchase alcohol. Similarly, there are many excuses adults could create for why their child came into possession of alcohol. This problem is quite a difficult one to solve; nevertheless, the policies that are currently in place are proving to be rather ineffective.
Although there are some restrictions on alcohol advertising, the fact that increasing advertisement campaigns are directly related to the increasing consumption of alcohol (especially amongst youngsters) shows that alcohol advertisements are the most powerful tool in influencing youngsters to drink alcohol and, thus, the current restrictions on alcohol advertising are quite ineffective.	The UK government can employ many different policies regarding age restrictions and licensing hours (etc.) but reducing alcohol advertising is clearly an important factor that needs to be considered; they were able to ban advertising on tobacco so they certainly have the powers to ban alcohol advertisements. Effectively, a full ban on alcohol advertising would have a significant influence on the way in which youngsters drink. In Sweden, as of 2003, under Swedish Alcohol Law, advertising of any drinks above 2.25%abv is prohibited except at the point of sale (see page 18). Overall, Sweden is a great example of how a general ban on almost all alcohol advertisements is extremely effective and beneficial as Sweden has a very limited number of alcohol related problems (especially among youngsters), which is why such a strategy should be used within the UK.
The alcoholic education additions to the UK Schools National Curriculum can only be seen to be effective when assessed in the long term and in the short term, the education on alcohol is limited and it is adults, not just youngsters who are not educated on alcohol well enough.	Seeing as parental influence is one of the key aspects of the drinking habits of youngsters, it is important to better educate adults into the dangers of alcohol. Sending information leaflets round to UK households would be a cost-effective method to help educate families on alcohol in the short term while we wait for the effects of the changes to the National Schools Curriculum.
Recent changes to licensing hours have made dispersal in towns improve but this has had a huge affect on policing costs and does not solve the problem of excessive drinking.	The main problem is that with staggered closing hours, the police have to stay out longer and often have periods where there is nothing to be done, even though they continue to be paid which has its effect on the economy.  Obviously, staggered hours limit the trouble that occurs when all venues in a town close at the same time but it means the cost of policing is higher and it does not limit excessive drinking. One solution to this could be to continue with staggered hours, but instead of staggering closing time by hours at a time, have different venues close every 15 minutes or half an hour while the police disperse everyone off the streets. The problem of excessive drinking can only really be influenced by policies concerning education, advertising and taxation.
Although the UK has some of the highest taxes on alcohol in Europe, there are still major alcohol related problems as the affordability of alcohol has not increased at all due to rising disposable income.	Although youngsters (with low disposable income) find alcohol to be rather expensive, it does not influence their drinking habits to any significant extent. This could be due to the British Drinking Culture which differs from that of other European countries. The Government could increase alcohol tax even though it is already at such a high level, but this could be damaging to the economy because increasing taxation too drastically could result in a loss of government tax revenue – a theory developed in the Laffer Curve. Overall, it is very difficult to solve the problem of alcohol pricing within the UK.

 

 

[1] BBPA Website – http://www.beerandpub.com