The full impact of any policy must take into consideration...

The full impact of any policy must take into consideration the potential freedom of consumers to change their beverage of choice from wine to beer or liquor, or to consume beverages that are cheaper. This is particularly important in western societies where affluent consumers have a lot of freedom to choose. Our results show that it would be much better to increase prices of low-level alcoholic beverages than to increase prices equally across all beverages.