Alcohol consumption in Russia is legendary and has been reported to be the third leading cause of death in the former Soviet Union after heart disease and cancer. Are Russian alcohol consumers rational addicts? This paper uses eight rounds of a nationally representative Russian survey spanning...

Considering restrictions on alcohol advertising, public policy-makers around the world cite a set of studies conducted by alcohol and addiction researchers on the effects of alcohol advertising on alcohol consumption. These studies suggest that advertising is a cause of increased alcohol...

I augment the standard rational addiction model to include an insurance component whereby the effects of addiction can be mitigated. The model implies that increasing the level of insurance in the future induces a forward-looking individual to consume more of a harmfully addictive good...