What drives unrecorded production and consumption?
individual-level factors
What drives unrecorded production and consumption?
individual-level factors
Population-Based Surveys
Individual-level drivers can be identified via the same methods used to explore characteristics of unrecorded consumers ― namely, population-based surveys.
These surveys can, but need not necessarily, inquire explicitly about motivations for consuming unrecorded alcohol, such as a lower price or the social environment. Potential individual-level drivers may also be gleaned by identifying characteristics that distinguish unrecorded consumers from the rest of the population, such as:
- education and income levels;
- race / ethnicity; and
- rural versus urban dwelling status.
Considerable caution should be exercised with this latter approach, however, as an association between variables does not provide conclusive proof that one causes, or drives, the other.