Is 80 Proof Recession Proof?
The folk wisdom I’ve always heard is that the one business that never suffers in a recession is alcohol. You’re never too poor, apparently, to rack up a bar tab, and if you are, well, all the more reason to order another round.
The New York Times, however, suggests this might not be the case:
Not even beer is immune. Sales of inexpensive domestic beers, like Keystone Light, are up; sales of higher-price imports, like Corona Extra, are down, the firm said.
Some are skipping drinks altogether. The number of people ordering an alcoholic drink fell to 31 percent last month from 42 percent last summer, according to a survey of 2,500 people conducted by Technomic, a restaurant industry consulting firm.
Is this a new trend, or is my understanding just economic folklore? I don’t know, but I suspect either Tyler Cowen or Baylen Linnekin might.
The story talks of a decline in the number of people “ordering a drink”. That presumably refers to people in restaurants or bars. (If I tried ordering a drink from my wife at home, I’d end up wearing it.) Those people are probably saving money by drinking at home. Both data points are consistent with people keeping drinking, but trying to do so more cheaply. It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see single-malt scotch sales go down and blended scotch sales go up during a recession.
— Jim · Apr 29, 01:56 PM · #