Gov. Bob McDonnell campaigned on a promise to sell Virginia’s 334 state-owned Alcoholic Beverage Control stores and use the money for urgently needed transportation projects. There’s no time like the present. Transportation funding isn’t even keeping up with highway maintenance, and thanks to BP, the prospect of collecting royalties from offshore drilling is greatly diminished. Selling the ABC stores is an attractive option to raise money for new roads.

A study for the Virginia Institute of Public Policy, co-authored by George Mason University economics professor Donald Boudreaux and consultant Julia Williams, concluded that doing so will not, as some critics contend, increase the incidence of public drunkenness. They compared Virginia, one of 18 “control” states, with 32 “license” states that allow private retailers to sell distilled spirits. If government sale of alcohol were really a factor in reducing alcohol-related deaths, this “natural experiment” would demonstrate as much.