Matthew Lesch
Biographic Data
| ID | 1732968 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matthew Lesch |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matthew |
| FAMILY NAME | Lesch |
| SIGNATURE | LESCH M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of York |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3015-0937 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Labelling the debate: A thematic analysis of alcohol industry submissions to the EU consultation on alcohol health warnings in Ireland
BACKGROUND: Building on the success of tobacco health warning labels, EU Member States and institutions are increasingly considering similar requirements for alcohol products. While industry responses to pricing and availability policies have been widely studied, their framing of Alcohol Health Warning Labels (AHWLs) as a policy solution remains comparatively underexplored. This paper examines how alcohol industry stakeholders responded to the EU…
Are we moving into a new era for alcohol policy globally? An analysis of the Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022-30
The Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022-30 (GAAP) represents an important milestone in policy implementation at the global level on alcohol and health. There has, however, been little attention paid to the GAAP in the research literature. With a focus on the alcohol industry, this analysis examines the content of, and prospects for, the GAAP. It is clear why stronger action on alcohol and health is needed. The health harming nature of alcohol and pol…
Continuities and change in alcohol policy at the global level: A documentary analysis of the 2010 Global Strategy for Reducing the Harmful Use of Alcohol and the Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022–2030
BACKGROUND: There are only two major statements which define alcohol policy development at the global level. There has not been any comparative analysis of the details of these key texts, published in 2010 and 2022 respectively, including how far they constitute similar or evolving approaches to alcohol harm. METHODS: Preparatory data collection involved examination of documents associated with the final policy statements. A thematic analysis acr…
The confluence of legacy, corporate social responsibility, and public health: The case of Migros and alcohol-free retailing in Switzerland
Alcohol-related harm arises from a complex interaction between different social, political, and economic factors. Reducing harm requires approaches that consider the range of contexts and measures that can shape alcohol availability
Distilling the distillers: Examining the political activities of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States
BACKGROUND: Understanding of the alcohol industry's means of influencing public policy is increasingly well established. Less is known, however, about the specific organisations that lead the political strategies of the alcohol industry. To fill this gap, this paper explores the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), a key trade association in the United States (US), which also operates internationally. METHODS: This study explo…
Evolution of the major alcohol companies key global policy vehicle through the prism of tax records 2011–19
BACKGROUND: Important insights have been generated into the nature of the activities of the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP). Its successor, the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) is less well understood. This study aims to rectify evidence limitations on the political activities of the alcohol industry at the global level. METHODS: Internal Revenue Service filings were examined for ICAP and IARD each year betw…
Alcohol policy framing in South Africa during the early stages of Covid-19: Using extraordinary times to make an argument for a new normal
Crisis conditions can provide new openings for public health (and industry) actors to make salient particular features of alcohol and alcohol policy evidence
A long‐brewing crisis: The historical antecedents of major alcohol policy change in Ireland
The alcohol industry, the tobacco industry, and excise taxes in the US 1986–89: New insights from the tobacco documents
The tobacco documents offer a key resource for studying economic interests beyond that of the tobacco industry, operating in collaboration with tobacco companies. Here, brewers advanced shared interests with tobacco, and these findings have implications for advancing understanding of alcohol and tobacco industry political strategies. The findings also suggest that financial documents from other public repositories could be used to generate new in…
Crisis, uncertainty and urgency: Processes of Learning and Emulation in Tax Policy Making
This article examines how ideational factors shape policy making during crisis conditions. Crises can generate 'problem uncertainty', in which policymakers are uncertain about the nature of policy problems. Existing studies have linked such conditions to processes of policy learning. Yet crises can also trigger 'policy urgency', where policymakers' preference for immediate policy action is paramount. This study suggests that bounded emulation, in…
Policy communities, devolution and policy transfer: The case of alcohol pricing in Wales
This study investigates how processes of horizontal policy transfer can unfold in the context of devolution, examining the development of legislation on minimum unit pricing (MUP) in Wales, following on from Scotland's earlier policy decision. The study draws on a range of sources, including primary documents, media coverage, and interviews with policy participants. Our analysis identifies the importance of the specific character of Welsh politic…
Waiting for the wave: Political leadership, policy windows, and alcohol policy change in Ireland
Existing research has identified numerous barriers to the adoption of public health policies for alcohol, including the cross-cutting nature of the policy problem and industry influence. Recent developments in Ireland suggest that while formidable, such barriers can be overcome. Ireland's 2018 alcohol legislation adopts key evidence-based measures, introducing pricing, availability and marketing regulations that are world-leading in public health…
Reconceptualising the study of alcohol policy decision-making: The contribution of political science
In this article, we demonstrate the applicability of a 3-I (interests, institutions, and ideas) framework to alcohol policy research. The analysis uses literature from political science research to provide a core theoretical framework. To help illustrate the argument, we draw on relevant examples from alcohol policy in the UK as well as initial findings from an ongoing research study on minimum-unit pricing in Wales. The Welsh case study provides…
Alcohol Industry Involvement in the Moderate Alcohol and Cardiovascular Health Trial
The National Institutes of Health stopped the worldwide Moderate Alcohol and Cardiovascular Health (MACH) trial in 2018 because of institutional failings that led to the biased design of this major study. Drawing on e-mail correspondence among officials, researchers, and alcohol companies, we provide the first, to our knowledge, detailed analysis of alcohol industry involvement in the MACH trial. Alcohol companies agreed to fund the MACH trial to…
Connecting models of the individual and policy change processes: A research agenda
Advancing the study of political cleavages through experimentation: Revisiting regionalism and redistributive preferences in Canada
The maintenance of welfare state policies requires citizen support for the provision of a social safety net through taxation and redistribution. Research has shown that a diverse political polity presents a risk to the welfare state; however, Canada bucks the trend and does not see citizen support for economic redistribution decline in response to immigration-based population diversity. Using Canada as our case, we argue that scholars of welfare …
Crisis, uncertainty and urgency: Processes of Learning and Emulation in Tax Policy Making
This article examines how ideational factors shape policy making during crisis conditions. Crises can generate 'problem uncertainty', in which policymakers are uncertain about the nature of policy problems. Existing studies have linked such conditions to processes of policy learning. Yet crises can also trigger 'policy urgency', where policymakers' preference for immediate policy action is paramount. This study suggests that bounded emulation, in…
Waiting for the wave: Political leadership, policy windows, and alcohol policy change in Ireland
Existing research has identified numerous barriers to the adoption of public health policies for alcohol, including the cross-cutting nature of the policy problem and industry influence. Recent developments in Ireland suggest that while formidable, such barriers can be overcome. Ireland's 2018 alcohol legislation adopts key evidence-based measures, introducing pricing, availability and marketing regulations that are world-leading in public health…
Advancing the study of political cleavages through experimentation: Revisiting regionalism and redistributive preferences in Canada
The maintenance of welfare state policies requires citizen support for the provision of a social safety net through taxation and redistribution. Research has shown that a diverse political polity presents a risk to the welfare state; however, Canada bucks the trend and does not see citizen support for economic redistribution decline in response to immigration-based population diversity. Using Canada as our case, we argue that scholars of welfare …
Connecting models of the individual and policy change processes: A research agenda
Policy communities, devolution and policy transfer: The case of alcohol pricing in Wales
This study investigates how processes of horizontal policy transfer can unfold in the context of devolution, examining the development of legislation on minimum unit pricing (MUP) in Wales, following on from Scotland's earlier policy decision. The study draws on a range of sources, including primary documents, media coverage, and interviews with policy participants. Our analysis identifies the importance of the specific character of Welsh politic…
Advancing the study of political cleavages through experimentation: Revisiting regionalism and redistributive preferences in Canada
The maintenance of welfare state policies requires citizen support for the provision of a social safety net through taxation and redistribution. Research has shown that a diverse political polity presents a risk to the welfare state; however, Canada bucks the trend and does not see citizen support for economic redistribution decline in response to immigration-based population diversity. Using Canada as our case, we argue that scholars of welfare …
Connecting models of the individual and policy change processes: A research agenda
Reconceptualising the study of alcohol policy decision-making: The contribution of political science
In this article, we demonstrate the applicability of a 3-I (interests, institutions, and ideas) framework to alcohol policy research. The analysis uses literature from political science research to provide a core theoretical framework. To help illustrate the argument, we draw on relevant examples from alcohol policy in the UK as well as initial findings from an ongoing research study on minimum-unit pricing in Wales. The Welsh case study provides…
Alcohol Industry Involvement in the Moderate Alcohol and Cardiovascular Health Trial
The National Institutes of Health stopped the worldwide Moderate Alcohol and Cardiovascular Health (MACH) trial in 2018 because of institutional failings that led to the biased design of this major study. Drawing on e-mail correspondence among officials, researchers, and alcohol companies, we provide the first, to our knowledge, detailed analysis of alcohol industry involvement in the MACH trial. Alcohol companies agreed to fund the MACH trial to…
Policy communities, devolution and policy transfer: The case of alcohol pricing in Wales
This study investigates how processes of horizontal policy transfer can unfold in the context of devolution, examining the development of legislation on minimum unit pricing (MUP) in Wales, following on from Scotland's earlier policy decision. The study draws on a range of sources, including primary documents, media coverage, and interviews with policy participants. Our analysis identifies the importance of the specific character of Welsh politic…
Waiting for the wave: Political leadership, policy windows, and alcohol policy change in Ireland
Existing research has identified numerous barriers to the adoption of public health policies for alcohol, including the cross-cutting nature of the policy problem and industry influence. Recent developments in Ireland suggest that while formidable, such barriers can be overcome. Ireland's 2018 alcohol legislation adopts key evidence-based measures, introducing pricing, availability and marketing regulations that are world-leading in public health…
A long‐brewing crisis: The historical antecedents of major alcohol policy change in Ireland
The alcohol industry, the tobacco industry, and excise taxes in the US 1986–89: New insights from the tobacco documents
The tobacco documents offer a key resource for studying economic interests beyond that of the tobacco industry, operating in collaboration with tobacco companies. Here, brewers advanced shared interests with tobacco, and these findings have implications for advancing understanding of alcohol and tobacco industry political strategies. The findings also suggest that financial documents from other public repositories could be used to generate new in…
Crisis, uncertainty and urgency: Processes of Learning and Emulation in Tax Policy Making
This article examines how ideational factors shape policy making during crisis conditions. Crises can generate 'problem uncertainty', in which policymakers are uncertain about the nature of policy problems. Existing studies have linked such conditions to processes of policy learning. Yet crises can also trigger 'policy urgency', where policymakers' preference for immediate policy action is paramount. This study suggests that bounded emulation, in…
Distilling the distillers: Examining the political activities of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States
BACKGROUND: Understanding of the alcohol industry's means of influencing public policy is increasingly well established. Less is known, however, about the specific organisations that lead the political strategies of the alcohol industry. To fill this gap, this paper explores the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), a key trade association in the United States (US), which also operates internationally. METHODS: This study explo…
Evolution of the major alcohol companies key global policy vehicle through the prism of tax records 2011–19
BACKGROUND: Important insights have been generated into the nature of the activities of the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP). Its successor, the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) is less well understood. This study aims to rectify evidence limitations on the political activities of the alcohol industry at the global level. METHODS: Internal Revenue Service filings were examined for ICAP and IARD each year betw…
Alcohol policy framing in South Africa during the early stages of Covid-19: Using extraordinary times to make an argument for a new normal
Crisis conditions can provide new openings for public health (and industry) actors to make salient particular features of alcohol and alcohol policy evidence
Are we moving into a new era for alcohol policy globally? An analysis of the Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022-30
The Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022-30 (GAAP) represents an important milestone in policy implementation at the global level on alcohol and health. There has, however, been little attention paid to the GAAP in the research literature. With a focus on the alcohol industry, this analysis examines the content of, and prospects for, the GAAP. It is clear why stronger action on alcohol and health is needed. The health harming nature of alcohol and pol…
Continuities and change in alcohol policy at the global level: A documentary analysis of the 2010 Global Strategy for Reducing the Harmful Use of Alcohol and the Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022–2030
BACKGROUND: There are only two major statements which define alcohol policy development at the global level. There has not been any comparative analysis of the details of these key texts, published in 2010 and 2022 respectively, including how far they constitute similar or evolving approaches to alcohol harm. METHODS: Preparatory data collection involved examination of documents associated with the final policy statements. A thematic analysis acr…
The confluence of legacy, corporate social responsibility, and public health: The case of Migros and alcohol-free retailing in Switzerland
Alcohol-related harm arises from a complex interaction between different social, political, and economic factors. Reducing harm requires approaches that consider the range of contexts and measures that can shape alcohol availability
Labelling the debate: A thematic analysis of alcohol industry submissions to the EU consultation on alcohol health warnings in Ireland
BACKGROUND: Building on the success of tobacco health warning labels, EU Member States and institutions are increasingly considering similar requirements for alcohol products. While industry responses to pricing and availability policies have been widely studied, their framing of Alcohol Health Warning Labels (AHWLs) as a policy solution remains comparatively underexplored. This paper examines how alcohol industry stakeholders responded to the EU…
Political science (15 works) · Medicine (12 works) · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology (11 works) · Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Public health (10 works) · Public relations (9 works) · Business (8 works) · Economics (7 works) · Politics (7 works)