The Water of Life and Death: A Brief Economic History of Spirits
Cockx L. Meloni G. Swinnen J.
1 November 2021Cambridge University Press
Journal of Wine Economics
2021#16Issue 4355 - 399 pp.
Spirits represent around 50% of global alcohol consumption. This sector is much less studied than other alcoholic beverages such as wine or beer. This paper reviews the economic history of spirits and analyzes recent trends in the spirits markets. The technology to produce spirits is more complex than for wine or beer. Distillation was known in ancient Chinese, Indian, Greek, and Egyptian societies, but it took innovations by the Arabs to distill alcohol. Initially, this alcohol was used for medicinal purposes. Only in the Middle Ages did spirits become a widespread drink. The Industrial Revolution created a large consumer market and reduced the cost of spirits, contributing to excess consumption and alcoholism. Governments have intervened extensively in spirits markets to reduce excessive consumption and to raise taxes. There have been significant changes in spirits consumption and trade over time. Over the past 50 years, the share of spirits in global alcohol consumption increased from around 30% to around 50%. In the past decades, there was strong growth in emerging markets, including in China and India. Recent developments in the spirits industry include premiumization, the growth of craft spirits, and the introduction of terroir for spirits.
Alcohol and health , Alcohol regulations , Craft and industry concentration , Distillation technology , Globalization and convergence of alcohol preferences , Spirits
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Department of Economics, Nazarbayev University, 53 Kabanbay Batyr Avenue, Nur-Sultan, 010000, Kazakhstan
LICOS Center for Institutions and Economic Performance, Department of Economics, University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Waaistraat 6, Leuven, 3000, Belgium
Centre for European Policy Studies, Place du Congrès 1, Brussels, 1000, Belgium
Department of Economics
LICOS Center for Institutions and Economic Performance
Centre for European Policy Studies
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