Authors: Edwin Horlings and Amanda Scoggins (RAND Europe)

The European Commission, Directorate-General Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO) has asked RAND Europe to contribute to the Commission’s impact assessment of a proposed Communication on alcohol policy. This Communication presents a comprehensive approach to combat the harmful effects of alcohol use in the European Union. RAND Europe has focused exclusively on the economic impacts of DG SANCO’s options.
This report first examines the nature and extent of the problem posed by alcohol use in Europe, which provides the rationale and focus for the associated policy initiative. Next, it developes a conceptual approach that discusses how alcohol use is linked to macroeconomic development. This approach is then used to examine the future impacts of a successful alcohol policy on a number of macroeconomic aspects.

Author: Lila Rabinovich, Priscillia Hunt, Laura Staetsky, Simo Goshev, Ellen Nolte, Janice Pedersen, Christine Tiefensee (RAND Europe)

In spite of extensive evidence that raising alcohol prices reduces alcohol consumption and harms, the real price of alcoholic beverages is decreasing across the EU. This trend has fuelled debate among policymakers, public health practitioners and other stakeholders across the EU about the opportunities, and challenges, of alcohol pricing policies. This study, produced by RAND Europe for the European Comission, DG SANCO and the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers, aims to contribute a robust evidence base to inform pricing policy in the region. Towards this aim, the study examines in greater detail a number of issues such as tax changes to consumer prices, trends in on- and off-trade alcohol consumption, and the nature and scale of price promotion and discount activity in the EU.