Do Alcohol Control Policies Make Sense?

How do alcohol and tobacco control policies affect economic, social, and health outcomes? In several papers, Barýþ K. Yörük has demonstrated that alcohol control policies such as imposing a minimum drinking age or restricting sales of alcohol on Sundays are effective tools in reducing alcohol consumption, particularly among young adults.

While visiting CESifo in June, Barýþ K. Yörük will be working on finishing his current research project in which he investigates the effect of the restrictions on Sunday alcohol sales on crime. This research is currently being funded by a two-year research grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). During his visit, he will also study the economic impacts of smoking bans in restaurants and bars.

Barýþ K. Yörük is an applied micro-economist with research interests in public and health economics. His research focuses on issues that are relevant to public policy practitioners, using a combination of micro and macro data and mostly empirical methods. His recent work has centred on two major topics: the economics of charitable giving and volunteering and the impact of public health policy on health and economic outcomes. He has published several papers in leading journals including Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Health Economics and Journal of Human Resources.

Barýþ K. Yörük is Assistant Professor of Economics at University at Albany, State University of New York. He earned his BA and MA degrees in Economics from Bilkent University and an MA and PhD in economics degrees from Boston College.