About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

36 Ariz. L. Rev. 1 (1994)
The Price of Prohibition

handle is hein.journals/arz36 and id is 11 raw text is: Essay Tm PRICE OF PROHIBITION Donald J. Boudreaux* & A. C. Pritchard** The standard account of alcohol prohibition in America focuses exclusively on ideology. Specifically, the story goes, vast numbers of citizens were so overcome with Progressive hubris that they set forth on a futile quest to mandate morality by banning the manufacture and sale of liquor. Within a few years, the folly of such moral legislation became transparent. Chastened by their experience, the American people abandoned their noble experiment in social engineering.1 Public-choice theory offers a different vantage point from which to evaluate this standard account. Public-choice theory, consistent with other economic disciplines, focuses on self-interest--especially pecuniary self- interest-as the driving force behind political behavior and outcomes. Ideology carries little weight in typical public-choice analysis of legislation or regulation2 Thus, a traditional public-choice explanation of prohibition and its Department of Legal Studies, Clemson University. M.A. New York University, Ph.D. Auburn University, J.D. University of Virginia. ** Office of the Solicitor General, United States Department of Justice. M.A. University of Chicago, J.D. University of Virginia. We thank Karol Ceplo, Nathan Forrester, Randy Holcombe, Richard Posner, George Selgin, Mark Thornton, and Bruce Yandle for helpful suggestions. The Institute for Humane Studies and the Olin Foundation provided much appreciated professional and financial assistance. The views expressed here are ours alone, and do not necessarily represent those of the Department of Justice. 1. See, e.g., RICHARD B. BERNSTEIN & JEROME AGEL, AMENDING AMERICA 175 (1993); Norman H. Clark, Prohibition and Temperance, in THE READER'S COMPANION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 871 (Eric Foner & John A. Garraty eds., 1991); LAWRENCE M. FRIEDMAN, AMERICAN LAW 162 (1984). Judge Posner suggests that prohibition was repealed because Congress was unwilling to invest the resources necessary to make it work. RICHARD A. POSNER, ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF LAW 533 (4th ed. 1992). We argue below, however, that this unwillingness to adequately enforce prohibition is insufficient to explain why the Twenty- first Amendment was ratified. See infra text accompanying note 16. FLETCHER DOBYNS, THE AMAZING STORY OF REPEAL 349 (1940), attributes the noble experiment' phrase to Herbert Hoover. 2. See, e.g., ROBERT E. MCCORMICK & ROBERT D. TOLLISON, POLITICIANS, LEGISLATION, ANDTHEECONOMY (1981). The failure of public-choice scholars to account for the role of ideology in determining political outcomes is now being corrected. See generally Symposium, Empirical Studies of Ideology and Representation in American Politics, 76 PUB. CHOICE 1 (1993) (an entire issue of the journal Public Choice devoted to empirical studies of ideology and representation in American politics); see also William R. Dougan & Michael C. Munger, The Rationality of Ideology, 32 J. L. ECON. 119 (1989); Michael E. DeBow & Dwight R. Lee, Understanding (and Misunderstanding) Public Choice: A Response to Farber and Frickey, 66 TEX. L. REV. 993 (1988); Joseph P. Kalt & Mark A. Zupan, Capture and Ideology

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most