The Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign and Russia's Mortality Crisis

• Verfasst von: Bhattacharya, Jay
• Titel: The Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign and Russia's Mortality Crisis
• Mitwirkende: Gathmann, Christina
• Mitwirkende: Miller, Grant
• Verf.angabe: Jay Bhattacharya, Christina Gathmann, Grant Miller
• Verlagsort: Cambridge, Mass
• Verlag: National Bureau of Economic Research
• E-Jahr: 2012
• Jahr: December 2012
• Umfang: 1 Online-Ressource
• Gesamttitel/Reihe: NBER working paper series ; no. w18589
• ComputerInfo: Mode of access: World Wide Web.
• ComputerInfo: System requirements: Adobe [Acrobat] Reader required for PDF files.
• DOI: doi:10.3386/w18589
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• (Sekundärform): Hardcopy version available to institutional subscribers.
• K10plus-PPN: 1046619624

Abstract

Political and economic transition is often blamed for Russia's 40% surge in deaths between 1990 and 1994. Highlighting that increases in mortality occurred primarily among alcohol-related causes and among working-age men (the heaviest drinkers), this paper investigates an alternative explanation: the demise of the 1985-1988 Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign. Using archival sources to build a new oblast-year data set spanning 1978-2000, we find a variety of evidence suggesting that the campaign's end explains a large share of the mortality crisis - implying that Russia's transition to capitalism and democracy was not as lethal as commonly suggested