Definition
Alcohol prohibition was a period from 1920 to 1933 in the United States of America where the manufacture, transportation, and sale of intoxicating beverages was made illegal.
Alcohol Prohibition
The national prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States of America lasted from January 16, 1920 to December 5, 1933. This period of time has become known as the “Noble Experiment,” a phrase coined by President Herbert Hoover. Alcohol prohibition was instituted by the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which stated, “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.” The Volstead Act was put into place for the purpose of enforcing this constitutional amendment. The experiment was meant to alleviate the various social ills that many perceived alcoholic...
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Cowan RC (1986) A war against ourselves: how the narcs created crack. Natl Rev 5:26–31
Fisher I (1927) Prohibition at its worst. Alcohol Information Committee, New York
Fisher I (1928) Prohibition still at it worst. Alcohol Information Committee, New York
Fisher I (1930) The noble experiment. Alcohol Information Committee, New York
Thornton M (1991) Alcohol prohibition was a failure. Policy Anal 157
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Further Reading
Okrent D (2010) Last call: the rise and fall of prohibition. Scribner, New York
Thornton M (1991) The economics of prohibition. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City
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Snow, N.A. (2019). Alcohol Prohibition. In: Marciano, A., Ramello, G.B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7753-2_626
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