Copenhagen, Hotel Admiral, 16-17 of March, 2011
The effects of favouring lower alcohol-content beverages have in different times been a topical issue in Nordic alcohol policy debate. A preference for lower-alcohol beverages is visible in policies such as higher taxes on spirits and greater availability and advertising opportunities for beer and other lower alcohol content products. These policies convey a hierarchy of perceived effects by beverages according to their alcohol content. As of yet the reasoning and the outcomes of this preferential treatment has not been properly mapped. There are no satisfying answers to questions such as: Does harm per litre vary between different beverages? What are the short and long term consequences of people being lead, due to various reasons, to drink low alcohol beverages rather than high?
The meeting strives at gathering a wide range of research, which produces evidence on the underlying motives as well as effects of such policies. Both empirical testing and pieces on historical contexts or policy rhetoric are welcome. Work that investigates the following questions is especially relevant: What decisions that lead to a favouring of lighter beverages have been made; when were they taken; what can be said about immediate and long-term effects? What were the effects of the changes in terms of trouble per litre? What did the discourses/ rhetoric underlying these policies look like?
Papers representing different drinking cultures and policy traditions will strengthen the comparative dimension of the initiative as a whole.
