Is it time to lower America's drinking age?

A recent article in the Economist describes how at the height of the Vietnam war, many Americans asked why an 18-year-old could die for his country but not drink a beer. Now the same question, given topicality by Iraq, is part of a renewed effort to lower the drinking age across the country.

The article says "Spurred by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the Reagan administration in 1984 ordered states to raise their drinking age back to 21 or lose 10% of their federal highway funds. The states buckled under this fiscal blackmail but—surprise!—under-age drinking did not disappear. In some ways, the problem got worse. Besides making criminals of millions of young people, the “21” law encourages the young to binge in secret".

Now public opinion is growing against the "21" law in some states, and this is happenening at the same time that rumours emerge about an increase in the legal drinking ages to 21 years in Ireand. Read a previous post on this blog about that story here.

There is also a interesting game theory angle on this story. If all the states stick together and maintain their resolve by mutual assurance, then the threat to cut 10% of their federal highway funds will be non-credible. The federal government has as interest in maintaining a federal highway too!