Economics Seminar Series with Ashley Wong

Ashley Wong, Assistant Professor of Economics- Barnard College, Columbia University is presenting: Does Alcohol Access Affect Road Safety? Insights from Texas Municipal Elections. 

We study how local alcohol availability affects traffic accidents by exploiting the staggered legalization of alcohol sales in over 300 Texas cities from 2003–2019. These “wet laws” substantially increased liquor outlets and sales, yet we find no corresponding rise in overall, alcohol-related, or fatal crashes. The growth in outlets comes mainly from off-premise retailers, which appear less linked to alcohol-impaired accidents than on-premise establishments. We also find no evidence of spillovers: a city’s legalization does not measurably affect traffic outcomes in neighboring cities.