9/1/2023 0 Comments Us monopoly history![]() ![]() It was no accident that these monopolies were usually at a local government level: that is the level of government which has to deal most directly with public order and public health problems. ![]() Prior to the First World War, it showed up in diverse forms and places: in the "dispensary system" in the American South, in the Community Hotel in Renmark, South Australia, and in the "municipal beer halls" in British southern Africa (Room, 1984 1987). (3) The idea of a governmental monopoly at least partly motivated by public order or public health concerns first arose in Falun, Sweden in 1859, and the idea spread to the English-speaking world and elsewhere in the late 19th century as the "Gothenburg system". Several European anciens régimes - notably, Russia, Poland and Sweden - at some time had a form of alcohol monopoly, usually over spirits. Partly because the supply of an imported or manufactured commodity can be more effectively controlled over a larger area, and partly because the fiscal benefits are so marked, fiscally-oriented monopolies have tended to become a prerogative of the state rather than of local government. Along with food flavorings and preservatives - salt, spices and sugar - psychoactive drugs (tea, coffee, opium, chocolate, tobacco, alcohol) have been conspicuous choices as such commodities. Important determinants of the choice from the state's fiscal perspective are that the supply of the commodity should be controllable and that the commodity should be widely and habitually used (so that the revenue base is broad and the demand is relatively inelastic). As 17th-century Venice demonstrated with its tobacco monopoly (Austin, 1978:11), such a system can be an efficient way of gathering the maximum of state revenue from strategically chosen consumer goods. (2) In the longer sweep of history, fiscal interests have probably been the strongest reason for state monopolies of everyday or luxury consumer goods. While modern states vary in the degree to which they monopolize the distribution of dangerous commodities, no state is completely laissez-faire about all commodities. citizen's "right to bear arms" does not extend to a right to own an atomic bomb or to surround one's home with a battery of functioning cannon. We take it for granted, and do not normally question, for instance, that the U.S. This is notably true of at least some of the means of violence. Whatever the political or economic complexion of the modern state, monopolization of some goods is part of the essence of its existence. (1) State monopolies of production and distribution of goods have a very long history, and have been adopted for many purposes. The present paper draws on the recent work on alcohol monopolies, summarizing some of what we have learned about their history and functioning, and about their potential effectiveness as an instrument for the prevention of alcohol-related problems. Meanwhile, the alcohol monopolies of eastern Europe are being dismantled in step with the privatization of other state monopolies. In an era in which privatization is often seen as a good in itself, the monopolies are under attack in many capitalist or mixed-economy countries. The renewed attention comes at an ironic moment. For many years, these institutional legacies of the later half of the 19th and earlier half of the 20th centuries had been nearly invisible in the research literature. In recent years, the history, functioning and effects of governmental alcohol monopolies have drawn some research attention (see, for example, Room, 1984 1985a 1985b 1987 Kortteinen, 1989 Holder and Wagenaar, 1990 Wagenaar and Holder, 1991). Gains from the alcohol monopoly mechanism. Of availability leave relatively little scope for specific prevention That the general ideological constraints on differentiated controls The greatest opportunity for effective control or intervention (2) Posed: (1) that, in contrast with their beginnings, monopolies todayĪre little involved in on-premises consumption, where there is probably Two major issues for their relation to alcohol control measures are Particularly in English-speaking and Nordic countries, are considered. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to the Alcohol Research Group, Medical Research Institute of San Francisco, 2000 Hearst Ave., Berkeley CA 94709, USA.Īspects of the history and current position of alcohol monopolies, Preparation was in part supported by a National Alcohol Research Center grant (AA 05595) from the U.S. Revised in 1991 from a paper prepared for a symposium on alcohol control and alcohol monopolies, Oslo, August 8, 1988, organized by the Norwegian Vinmonopolet. Medical Research Institute of San Francisco Alcohol Monopolies and Alcohol Control Alcohol Monopolies and Alcohol ![]()
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