Wet and Dry Counties in Virginia

This paper is an investigation of the determinants of prohibition on alcohol sales by local municipalities. It is hypothesized that both socioeconomic and interest group variables together will have greater explanatory value in explaining outcomes rather than analysis relying on either voting or pressure group factors alone. This was tested using data from Virginia counties. It was found that although interest group variable was a stronger predictor of outcomes, the model was enhanced by the addition of demographic variables