We examine the effects of early twentieth-century Swedish city-level regulations that prohibited alcohol sales to individuals with records from the police, health, or social welfare authorities. These restrictions led to substantial reductions in total alcohol sales within the regulated cities, with no evidence that the decline was offset by increased purchases in neighbouring cities, in restaurants or bars, or through illicit channels (proxied by convictions for illegal sales). We find an immediate and statistically significant decline in total crimes per capita, driven mainly by reductions in arrests for drunkenness but also decreases in theft and “breach of the peace” offences, though not by changes in violent or other crimes. By contrast, we find no discernible effects on poor-relief expenditures or the number of poor-relief recipients.
