Green, Colin and Navarro Paniagua, Maria (2016) Play hard, shirk hard? : the effect of bar hours regulation on worker absence. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 78 (2). pp. 248-264. ISSN 0305-9049
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Abstract
The regulation of alcohol availability has the potential to influence worker productivity. This paper uses legislative changes in bar opening hours to provide a potential quasi-natural experiment of the effect of alcohol availability on working effort, focusing on worker absenteeism. We examine two recent policy changes, one in England/Wales and one in Spain that increased and decreased opening hours, respectively. We demonstrate a robust positive causal link between opening hours and absenteeism, although short-lived for Spain. The effect is long lasting for the UK where we provide evidence which suggests that increased alcohol consumption is a key mechanism.