Alcohol prices, the April effect, and the environment, in violence-related injury in England and Wales.

Violent injury varies widely across England and Wales as does the price of alcohol. While the links between alcohol consumption and violence are well established in the medical and epidemiological literature, a causal link is questionable. This paper cuts through the causative argument by reporting a link between the general price of alcohol and violence-related injury across the economic regions of England and Wales. It examines the influence of the real price of alcohol and identifies an 'April effect' that coincides with the annual uprating of alcohol prices for excise duties, on violence-related injuries recorded at Emergency Department attendance. The data are monthly frequency of violent injury rates covering the period 2005-2014 across the economic regions. The principal finding is that a one-way relationship between the real price of alcohol and violent injury is established, and tax policy can be used to reduce the incidence of violent injury and the associated health costs.

Financialization, religion, and social trust in rural China.

This paper examines the impact of financial development and religion on social trust in rural China. We use multinomial logistic regression models with the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) Survey Data of 2013. The findings show that while financial development has a negative and significant impact on particular trust but no impact on general trust, religion has a positive relationship with general trust but insignificant relationship with particular trust. This study further investigates the impact of interaction between financial development and religion on social trust. The joint effect of financial development and religion has significant and positive relationship with particular trust. This implies that while financialization destroys the traditional relatives and friends trust based on lending and borrowing in rural area, religiosity lessens the negative impact of financialization on particular trust.

Preventing violence-related injuries in England and Wales: a panel study examining the impact of on-trade and off-trade alcohol prices.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the influence of real on-trade and off-trade alcohol prices and socioeconomic and environmental factors on rates of violence-related emergency department (ED) attendances in England and Wales over an 8-year period. METHODS: Anonymised injury data which included attendance date, age and gender of patients aged over 18 years who reported injury in violence were collected from a structured sample of 100 EDs across England and Wales between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2012. Alcohol prices and socioeconomic measures were obtained from the UK Office for National Statistics. Panel techniques were used to derive a statistical model. RESULTS: Real on-trade (ß=-0.661, p<0.01) and off-trade (ß=-0.277, p<0.05) alcohol prices were negatively related with rates of violence-related ED attendance among the adult population of England and Wales, after accounting for the effects of regional poverty, income inequality, youth spending power and seasonal effects. It is estimated that over 6000 fewer violence-related ED attendances per year in England and Wales would result from a 1% increase in both on-trade and off-trade alcohol prices above inflation. Of the variables studied, changes in regional poverty and income inequality had the greatest effect on violence-related ED attendances in England and Wales. CONCLUSIONS: Small increases in the price of alcohol, above inflation, in both markets, would substantially reduce the number of patients attending EDs for treatment of violence-related injuries in England and Wales. Reforming the current alcohol taxation system may be more effective at reducing violence-related injury than minimum unit pricing.

Price of beer and violence-related injury in England and Wales.

OBJECTIVES: Relationships between violence-related injury and potential risk factors in England and Wales were investigated over a five-year period, 1st May 1995 to 30th April 2000. METHODS: Records from all 10 economic regions of England and Wales relating to price of alcohol, youth real income, wealth, ethnic density, dates of major sporting events and seasonality were studied with reference to violent injury data derived from 58 Emergency Departments (EDs) over the same period. Panel estimation and multi-level modelling was used to evaluate associations between variables. RESULTS: Overall, 353,443 violence-related A&E attendances were identified over the five-year period. High regional violence-related injury rates correlated with low real price of alcohol as measured by price of beer. Rates of violence were higher during summer months and on days of major sporting events. CONCLUSIONS: Risk of injury in violence was closely linked to alcohol price. Beer price rises should therefore reduce violent injury. Injury reduction efforts should be intensified during the summer and on days of major sports events.