NBER Publications by Neva K. Novarro

The object of this paper is to provide evidence concerning the extent to which consumers of liquor exhibit a demand for precommitment devices. One of the most frequently mentioned strategies for exercising self-control is to limit the availability of a problematic good by not maintaining an easily accessed supply. In a policy regime with shorter sales hours (either for on-premise or off-premise consumption), this strategy should be more effective; hence, if the strategy is widely used, alcohol consumption should be lower. In contrast, without time inconsistency, one would expect liquor consumption to decline with shorter on-premise sales, but not necessarily with shorter off-premise sales hours (because liquor is storable at low cost and the experience is repeated with high frequency). We ...