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This paper provides evidence
concerning the extent to which consumers of liquor employ commitment devices.
One widely recommended commitment strategy is to regulate alcohol consumption
by deliberately manipulating availability. The paper assesses the prevalence of
the “availability strategy” by evaluating the effects of policies that would
influence its effectiveness – specifically, changes in allowable Sunday sales
hours. It finds that consumers increase their liquor consumption in response to
extended Sunday on-premises sales hours, but not in response to extended
off-premises sales hours. The latter finding is inconsistent with widespread
use of the availability strategy.
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