Drinking in College is “Largely Positive”?

According to Marshall Poe, drinking in college has more positives than negatives. “Rowdy drinking is not the problem. It is an essential, ineradicable, and largely positive element of American college culture. The problem is students who cannot or will not engage in rowdy drinking safely, for they often harm themselves and others.” How is drinking a…

Vice

Economic Inquiry has some interesting articles on the vices of drinking and smoking: Minimum Drinking Age Laws do not affect the rate of traffic fatalities.   Fraternity and Sorority membership increases drinking intensity and frequency. Increased Obesity rates are not caused by the Decreasing number of Smokers.

Risk aversion and health behaviors

Are risk averse individuals less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors?  According to Anderson and Mellor (JHE 2008), the answer is yes.  Using a Holt and Laury (AER 2002) methodology to measure risk aversion, the authors find that individuals who are risk averse are less likely to smoke, drink, be overweight or drive over the…