TY  - JOUR
AU  - Sarbaum, Jeffrey K
AU  - Polachek, Solomon W
AU  - Spear, Norman E
TI  - The Effects of Price Changes on Alcohol Consumption in Alcohol-Experienced Rats
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 6443
PY  - 1998
Y2  - March 1998
DO  - 10.3386/w6443
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6443
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6443.pdf
M1  - published as Jeffrey K. Sarbaum, Solomon W. Polachek, Norman E. Spear. "The Effects of Price Changes on Alcohol Consumption in Alcohol-Experienced Rats," in Frank J. Chaloupka, Michael Grossman, Warren K. Bickel and Henry Saffer, editors, "The Economic Analysis of Substance Use and Abuse: An Integration of Econometric and Behavioral Economic Research" University of Chicago Press (1999)

AB  - This paper reports results of two experiments designed to measure how addicted rats (i.e. laboratory rats with previous ethanol exposure via a variant of the Samson ethanol fading technique) respond to changes in the price of ethanol.  For both experiments, rats facing a budget constraint choose between two alternative non-ethanol commodities in a morning control session and between ethanol and a non-ethanol commodity in an afternoon session.  The results from both experiments shows that economic models of consumer choice are a useful tool to study ethanol and non-ethanol consumption in rats, and that a history of ethanol exposure did not interfere with rats' ability to behave according to economic theory.  In the first experiment, rats responded only moderately to a 100% price increase (especially when compared to the response for the non-ethanol commodity during the control session), but more dramatically for a 400% ethanol price increase.  However, going back to baseline prices after a prolonged duration of high ethanol prices yields some evidence that ethanol consumption declines below its original levels.  In the second experiment rats responded to increased ethanol prices but not to a cue signaling future price increases.  Thus, the experiments provide evidence supporting habit formation but not rational addiction as an explanation of ethanol consumption in rats.
ER  -