Download
Abstract
We examine the impact of local alcohol availability on traffic accidents, leveraging plausibly exogenous variation in local alcohol policies in Texas. Over 300 cities in Texas voted to legalize alcohol sales between 1990 and 2019, and the passage of these so-called “wet laws” leads to a sizable increase in liquor establishments. Despite this increase, we observe no corresponding rise in alcohol-related fatal traffic accidents, fatalities, or instances of drunk driving in fatal accidents. We also find that the increase in liquor establishments is mostly driven by off-premise retailers, possibly indicating that off-premise alcohol consumption may be unrelated to alcohol-impaired traffic incidents.