This application proposes a five-year research program for the Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for Pierre K. Alexandre, Ph.D. The Principal Investigator is an ideal candidate for this award given his limited training in epidemiology of alcohol addiction and treatment, alcohol research methods, and research ethics, his desire for advanced training in health and labor economics, and the economics of addiction; the solid infrastructure available to him at the University of Miami, and the exceptional group of collaborators that have agreed to work on this project. The proposed career development and research program will enable Dr. Alexandre to establish a strong training and research foundation in the economics of alcohol use and abuse, to achieve important accomplishments in technical writing and presentations, and to develop as an independent alcohol researcher. Dr. Alexandre (PI), Dr. French (mentor), and a team of multidisciplinary collaborators will use the U- or J-shaped alcohol-mortality relationship of the medical literature as a guide to examine economic aspects of alcohol use and abuse as they relate to labor markets, health care utilization and cost, and crime. The empirical analysis will use national surveys, particularly the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse and the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth, to pursue the following specific aims: (1) Determine the relationship between alcohol consumption and labor market measures such as earnings, labor force participation, employment, and number of weeks worked, (2) Determine the relationship between alcohol consumption and the utilization and cost of medical care, and (3) Determine the relationship between alcohol consumption and the prevalence and cost of crimes. The main outcomes of this Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) will be (1) Training in epidemiology of alcohol addiction and treatment, (2) advanced health economies, labor economics, and economics training for Dr. Alexandre, (3) training in research ethics, (4) multidisciplinary research on the economics of alcohol use and abuse, (5) conference presentations on alcohol research findings, (6) several publications in peer-reviewed professional journals, and (7) developing R03, R01, or other grant applications to function as an independent researcher at the end of the award.
