TY  - JOUR
AU  - Carrell,Scott E.
AU  - Hoekstra,Mark
AU  - West,James E.
TI  - Does Drinking Impair College Performance?  Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Approach
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 16330
PY  - 2010
Y2  - September 2010
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16330
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16330.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Scott E. Carrell
Department of Economics
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
Tel: 530/302-1038
Fax: 530/752-9382
E-Mail: secarrell@ucdavis.edu

Mark Hoekstra
Department of Economics
Texas A&M University
3087 Allen Building
4228 TAMU
College Station, TX  77843
Tel: (979) 845-7302
E-Mail: markhoekstra@tamu.edu

James West
Baylor University
Department of Economics
One Bear Place # 98003
Waco, TX  76798-8003
Tel: 254-710-6126
Fax: 254-710-6142
E-Mail: j_west@baylor.edu
AB  - This paper examines the effect of alcohol consumption on student achievement.  To do so, we exploit the discontinuity in drinking at age 21 at a college in which the minimum legal drinking age is strictly enforced.  We find that drinking causes significant reductions in academic performance, particularly for the highest-performing students.  This suggests that the negative consequences of alcohol consumption extend beyond the narrow segment of the population at risk of more severe, low-frequency, outcomes.
ER  -