Duffy & Snowdon (2012)

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The Minimal Evidence for Minimum Pricing is a research piece debunking the Sheffield Alcohol Policy Model used by the University of Sheffield in supporting the minimum pricing policy the English/Welsh and Scottish Governments are attempting to introduce to the UK.

In it they point out that

  • The model used is unrealistic for a number of reasons, specififically
  • The model presumes that heavy drinkers are effected by price elasticity, when much research points to the opposite conclusion
  • Figures are used as absolutes without error margins or acknowledgement of statistical errors
  • Where data is unavailable, numbers are essentially 'made up' to order
  • The existence of the black market/legal cross-border transactions is ignored
  • The fact that alcohol consumption has already been in decline in the past few years is ignored, to the point where that reduction has not led to the outcomes otherwise predicted by the model.


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