“EXH prohibition barrel” by Capablancaa is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. (Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EXH_prohibition_barrel.jpg#).
The longevity of dry laws
This study examines the long-term health effects of early-life exposure to alcohol prohibition in the U.S. It finds that children born in counties affected by statewide or federal Prohibition during the early 20th century lived, on average, 0.17 years longer in old age. The effect is attributed to reduced prenatal alcohol exposure, though it applies to all individuals regardless of maternal drinking behavior. Using historical estimates of alcohol use among women at the time, the authors estimate a potential treatment-on-treated impact of up to 1.7 additional years of life for children of mothers who drank. While the findings highlight the potential for early-life policy to shape long-term outcomes, the authors caution against overgeneralizing results to other regions or time periods.