Effects of increasing availability of wine and spirits in Norway

During the 1990s the monopoly on wine and spirits sales in Norway lost popular support. In 1998 the management of the monopoly therefore launched a plan for regaining popularity by increasing the number of retail outlets and introduce self service in the shops. Surveys since 1990 show that the negative trend really changed around the turn of the millennium, and the monopoly system has regained most of its popular support since then. A crucial question is then: Has the increased availability of wine and spirits resulted in increasing alcohol consumption ? Data from two surveys, one in 1999 and one in 2004, are used to answer this question. According to these data the total alcohol consumption increased during this period, but only in the municipalities that had a monopoly shop before 1999. i.e. in municipalities that were not expected to be influenced by the increasing availability. This increase was mainly due to increased consumption of beer and spirits. In the municipalities that were influenced by the new monopoly shops during this period, there was a decrease in consumption of spirits. This was due to a sharp decrease in the consumption of "moonshine", while the consumption of spirits from the monopoly shops increased. These results are in accordance with previous studies of short term (one year) effects in particular municipalities where a new monopoly shop was opened.