Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T15:41:32.476Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Serial Referendums on Alcohol Prohibition: A New Zealand Invention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 July 2016

Benoit Dostie  and
Ruth Dupré
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The 1920s American prohibition of alcohol is notorious but not unique. Many countries experienced similar struggles. However, none went through such a protracted struggle as New Zealand, the only country to hold nationwide referendums on prohibition at every general election for almost eight decades from 1911 to 1987. Indeed, if the majority threshold of its first referendum in 1911 had been set at 50 percent instead of at 60 percent, New Zealand would have been the very first country in the world to become prohibitionist. In our empirical analysis, we focus on the first five of those referendums, held from 1911 to 1922, because the 1910s was the most critical period when the fight between Drys and Wets reached its highest intensity. We first investigate how the different referendum designs influenced voting patterns. This is possible because the district-level referendum results present rare features such as the participation rate by gender in 1911, the identification of the military votes in the two referendums of 1919, the option of prohibition with compensation in 1919, and from 1919, the addition of a state-control regime as a third option. Second, we estimate the effect of the main determinants of voting preferences identified in the historical and sociological literature on temperance and prohibition. Our results confirm the influence of two factors: (1) Evangelicals were more likely to be supporters of a total ban whereas Anglicans and Catholics were more moderate and (2) women were more likely to vote Dry.

Type
Articles
Information
Social Science History , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , Fall 2016 , pp. 491 - 521
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association, 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atkinson, Neill (2003) Adventures in Democracy: A History of the Vote in New Zealand. Dunedin, NZ: University of Otago Press.Google Scholar
Blocker, Jack S. (1976) Retreat from Reform: The Prohibition Movement in the United States, 1890–1913. Westport: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Blocker, Jack S., and Tyrrell, Ian R., eds. (2003) Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.Google Scholar
Bollinger, Conrad (1967 [1959]) Grog's Own Country: The Story of Liquor Licensing in New Zealand. Auckland, NZ: Minerva.Google Scholar
Bordin, Ruth (1981) Woman and Temperance: The Quest for Power and Liberty, 1873–1900. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Butler, David, and Ranney, Austin, eds. (1994 [1978]) Referendums around the World: The Growing Use of Direct Democracy. Washington, DC: The American Enterprise Institute.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christoffel, Paul J. (2006) “Removing temptation: New Zealand's alcohol restrictions, 1881–2005.” PhD diss., Victoria University of Wellington.Google Scholar
Christoffel, Paul J. (2008) “Prohibition and the myth of 1919.” New Zealand Journal of History 42 (2): 154–74.Google Scholar
Cocker, Reverend James, and Murray, J. Malton (1930) Temperance and Prohibition in New Zealand. London: The Epworth Press. Reproduced in NZETC (New Zealand Electronic Text Centre): 1–20.Google Scholar
Costa, Dora L. (1995) “The political economy of state provided health insurance in the Progressive Era: Evidence from California.” NBER Working Paper Series, W5328.Google Scholar
Deacon, Robert T., and Shapiro, Perry (1975) “Private preferences for collective goods revealed through voting on referendum.” American Economic Review 65 (5): 943–55.Google Scholar
Dinan, John, and Heckelman, Jac C. (2005) “The anti-tobacco movement in the Progressive Era: A case study of direct democracy in Oregon.” Explorations in Economic History 42 (4): 529–46.Google Scholar
Dinan, John, and Heckelman, Jac C. (2014) “Support for repealing prohibition: An analysis of statewide referenda on ratifying the 21st Amendment.” Social Science Quarterly 95 (3): 636–51.Google Scholar
Dostie, Benoit, and Dupré, Ruth (2012) “‘The people's will’: Canadians and the 1898 referendum on alcohol prohibition.” Explorations in Economic History 49 (4): 498–515.Google Scholar
Eldred-Grigg, Stevan (1984) Pleasures of the Flesh: Sex and Drugs in Colonial New Zealand, 1840–1915. Wellington, NZ: A. H. and A. W. Reed Publishing.Google Scholar
Endersby, James W. (2012) “Prohibition and repeal: Voting on statewide liquor referenda in Texas.” The Social Science Journal 49 (4): 503–12.Google Scholar
Filer, John E., and Kenny, Lawrence W. (1980) “Voter turnout and the benefits of voting.” Public Choice 35 (5): 575–85.Google Scholar
Fischer, David Hackett (2012) Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies: New Zealand and the United States. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goff, Brian, and Anderson, Gary (1994) “The political economy of prohibition in the United States, 1919–1933.” Social Science Quarterly 75 (2): 270–83.Google Scholar
Greasley, David, and Oxley, Les (2000) “Measuring New Zealand's GDP 1865–1933: A cointegration-based approach.” Review of Income and Wealth Series 46 (3): 351–68.Google Scholar
Grigg, Anthony R. (1977) “The attack on citadels of liquordom: A study of the prohibition movement in New Zealand 1894–1914.” PhD diss., University of Otago.Google Scholar
Grigg, Anthony R. (1981) “Prohibition: The Church and Labor—a program for social reform 1890–1914.” New Zealand Journal of History 15 (2): 135–54.Google Scholar
Grigg, Anthony R. (1983) “Prohibition and women: The preservation of an ideal and a myth.” New Zealand Journal of History 17 (2): 144–65.Google Scholar
Grimshaw, Patricia (1987 [1972]) Women's Suffrage in New Zealand. Auckland, NZ: Auckland University Press.Google Scholar
Gusfield, Joseph (1963) Symbolic Crusade: Status Politics and the American Temperance Movement. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Hersch, Philip L., and Netter, Jeffrey M. (1989) “State prohibition of alcohol: An application of diffusion analysis to regulation.” Research in Law and Economics 12: 55–70.Google Scholar
Hofstadter, Richard (1955) The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R. New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Kahn, Matthew E., and Matsusaka, John G. (1997) “Demand for environmental goods: Evidence from voting patterns on California initiatives.” Journal of Law and Economics 40 (1): 137–73.Google Scholar
Katz, Jonathan N., and King, Gary (1999) “A statistical model for multiparty electoral data.” The American Political Science Review 93 (1): 15–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kotchen, Matthew J., and Powers, Shawn M. (2006) “Explaining the appearance and success of voter referenda for open-space conservation.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 52 (1): 373–90.Google Scholar
Lewis, Michael (2008) “Access to saloons, wet voter turnout and statewide prohibition referenda, 1907–1919.” Social Science History 32 (3): 373–404.Google Scholar
Macdonald, Charlotte (2003) “New Zealand,” in Blocker, Jack S. and Tyrrell, Ian R. (eds.) Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO: 453–56.Google Scholar
Matsusaka, John G. (1995) “Fiscal effects of the voter initiative: Evidence from the last 30 years.” Journal of Political Economy 103 (3): 587–623.Google Scholar
McLintock, Alexander H. (2009) “Provincial Districts.” Te Ara—The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/1966/provinces-and-provincial-districts/5.Google Scholar
McRobie, Alan (1989) New Zealand Electoral Atlas. Wellington, NZ: GP Books.Google Scholar
Ministry for Culture and Heritage (2009) www.NZHistory.net.nz/politics/temperance-movement/.Google Scholar
Morone, James A. (2003) Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Munger, Michael, and Schaller, Thomas (1997) “The Prohibition-repeal amendments: A natural experiment in interest group influence.” Public Choice 90 (1): 139–63.Google Scholar
Newman, Richard (1975) “New Zealand's vote for prohibition in 1911.” New Zealand Journal of History 9 (1): 52–67.Google Scholar
New Zealand Census (1911).Google Scholar
New Zealand Census (1921).Google Scholar
New Zealand Yearbooks (1911–1922).Google Scholar
Paulson, Ross Evans (1973) Women's Suffrage and Prohibition: A Comparative Study of Equality and Social Control. Glenview, IL: Scott and Foresman.Google Scholar
Phillips, John Oliver C. (1987) A Man's Country? The Image of the Pakeha Male—A History. Auckland, NZ: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Prince, John D. (1996) “Look back in amber: The general licensing poll in New Zealand 1919–87.” Political Science 48 (1): 48–72.Google Scholar
Roberts, Nigel (2012) “Referendums—Representative democracy and referendums.” Te Ara—the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/referendums/.Google Scholar
Romer, Thomas, Rosenthal, Howard, and Munley, Vincent G. (1992) “Economic incentives and political institutions: Spending and voting in school budget referenda.” Journal of Public Economics 49 (1): 1–33.Google Scholar
Rumbarger, John J. (1989) Profits, Power and Prohibition: Alcohol Reform and the Industrializing of America, 1800–1930. Albany: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Schrad, Mark Lawrence (2010) The Political Power of Bad Ideas: Networks, Institutions and the Global Prohibition Wave. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Mark A. (2001) “The contingent effects of ballot initiatives and candidate races on turnout.” American Journal of Political Science 45 (3): 700–6.Google Scholar
Thornton, Mark (1991) The Economics of Prohibition. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.Google Scholar
Timberlake, James (1963) Prohibition and the Progressive Movement 1900–1920. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomz, Michael, Tucker, Joshua, and Wittenberg, Jason (2002) “An easy and accurate regression model for multiparty electoral data.” Political Analysis 10 (1): 66–83.Google Scholar
Tyrrell, Ian R. (1991) Woman's World/Woman's Empire: The Women Christian Temperance Union in International Perspective. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Tyrrell, Ian R. (2010) Reforming the World: The Creation of America's Moral Empire. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Vandermeer, Philip R. (1981) “Religion, society and politics: A classification of American religious groups.” Social Science History 5 (1): 3–24.Google Scholar
Wagner, Jessica (2008) All or Nothing: A Short History of Abstinence in America. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.Google Scholar
Wasserman, Ira M. (1989) “Prohibition and ethnocultural conflict: The Missouri prohibition referendum of 1918.” Social Science Quarterly 70 (4): 886–901.Google Scholar
Wasserman, Ira M. (1990) “Status politics and economic class interests: The 1918 prohibition referendum in California.” Sociological Quarterly 31 (3): 475–84.Google Scholar