Policy Effects

The study presents case-study policy links as strong associations rather than causal proof. The Portugal-Spain case is treated as a possible effect of regulatory, administrative, funding, development, and legal harmonization, but requiring further study. Portugal and Spain showed convergence around Portugal's 1986 accession to the European Economic Community. The coordinated mid-1980s fall in the former Soviet Union countries is plausibly linked to the Soviet anti-alcohol campaign. Anti-alcohol measures would be expected to reduce the female-male differential because alcohol-related mortality affected male mortality more strongly.