The survival of an illegal alcohol market does not demonstrate that enforcement was absent or inconsequential.
This does not establish that enforcement was equally intense everywhere or quantify national consumption.
Separate market outcomes from enforcement intensity and the distribution of harm when evaluating Prohibition.
Researcher synthesis grounded in attributed McGirr passages; partial-source review.
Idea
The survival of an illegal alcohol market does not demonstrate that enforcement was absent or inconsequential.
Why it matters
Separate market outcomes from enforcement intensity and the distribution of harm when evaluating Prohibition.
Source reasoning
McGirr contrasts celebrated comic accounts of New York agents with lethal enforcement in poor rural Kentucky, then describes the expansion of federal enforcement personnel. She argues that accounts centered on evasion obscure substantial coercion directed at selected groups.
Boundary
This does not establish that enforcement was equally intense everywhere or quantify national consumption.
Connections
