DOES ALLOWING THE SALE OF WINE IN QUEBEC GROCERY STORES INCREASE CONSUMPTION

Objective: To determine if allowing wine sales in corner grocery store s, beginning in 1978 for domestic Quebec wines and then in 1983 for im ported wines, in addition to sales in government monopoly stores, led to an increase in alcohol consumption. Method: Aggregate retail sales data for the period 1953 to 1990 were analyzed using econometric regre ssion techniques. Time series (unit root) analysis and structural mode ling were used to take into account the effect of price, income and ot her social, economic and demographic factors in order to determine the effect of factors underlying consumption behavior in both the long an d short term. Results: In the post-intervention period, wine consumpti on continued along the rising trend established in the preintervention period, with an apparent shift in favor of domestic wine consumption. The increase in wine consumption was highest in the period immediatel y following privatization, but the increase eventually dampened down w ithin a few years. There was no fundamental change in the responsivene ss of wine consumption to price. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the level of wine consumption can be controlled through price changes when alcohol availability increases through increased sales outlets.