Does allowing the sale of wine in Quebec grocery stores increase consumption?

OBJECTIVE To determine if allowing wine sales in corner grocery stores, beginning in 1978 for domestic Quebec wines and then in 1983 for imported 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 regression techniques. Time series (unit root) analysis and structural modeling were used to take into account the effect of price, income and other social, economic and demographic factors in order to determine the effect of factors underlying consumption behavior in both the long and short term. RESULTS In the post-intervention period, wine consumption continued along the rising trend established in the pre-intervention period, with an apparent shift in favor of domestic wine consumption. The increase in wine consumption was highest in the period immediately following privatization, but the increase eventually dampened down within a few years. There was no fundamental change in the responsiveness 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.