Can legislation prevent debauchery? Mother gin and public health in 18th-century England
Details
Serval ID
serval:BIB_29D56B16015D
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Can legislation prevent debauchery? Mother gin and public health in 18th-century England
Journal
American Journal of Public Health
ISSN
0090-0036 (Print)
Publication state
Published
Issued date
03/2001
Volume
91
Number
3
Pages
375-84
Notes
Historical Article
Journal Article
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. --- Old month value: Mar
Journal Article
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. --- Old month value: Mar
Abstract
The "gin epidemic" of 1720 to 1751 in England was the first time that government intervened in a systematic fashion to regulate and control sales of alcohol. The epidemic therefore provides an opportunity to gauge the effects of multiple legislative interventions over time. Toward that end, we employed time series analysis in conjunction with qualitative methodologies to test the interplay of multiple independent variables, including real wages and taxes, on the consumption of distilled spirits from 1700 through 1771. The results showed that each of the 3 major gin acts was successful in the short term only, consistent with the state's limited resources for enforcement at the local level, and that in each instance consumption actually increased shortly thereafter. This was true even of the Gin Act of 1751, which, contrary to the assumptions of contemporaries and many historians, succeeded by accident rather than by design. The results also suggest that the epidemic followed the inverse U-shaped trajectory of more recent drug scares and that consumption declined only after the more deleterious effects of distilled spirits had been experienced by large numbers of people.
Keywords
Alcohol Drinking/*history/legislation & jurisprudence/prevention & control
Alcoholic Beverages/*history
England
History, 20th Century
Humans
Legislation/*history
Public Health/history
Pubmed
Web of science
Create date
25/01/2008 17:16
Last modification date
20/08/2019 13:09