Higher alcohol prices could lead people to drink less on the weekdays... and binge more on the weekends.

LISTEN ABOVE: Economist Dr Eric Crampton joins Larry Williams to discuss effects of a minimum drinking price.

New research in today's New Zealand Medical Journal suggests a minimum price on alcohol could reduce alcohol consumption by alcoholics.

But economist Dr Eric Crampton from business think tank New Zealand Initiative said Australian research suggests it could also have some unexpected effects.

He said heavy drinkers tend to respond to higher prices by staying dry during the weekend and binging on the weekend.

"We'll overestimate the health benefits that we might get from minimum pricing if we think that it's going to be hitting the heavier drinking days."

Meanwhile, Chair of Preventive and Social Medicine at Otago University Jennie Connor believes the change would be positive for all.

She believes a minimum price on alcohol is more likely to turn heavy drinkers away from alcohol, than drive them to find other means of supporting their habit.

Just over 100 alcoholics at an Auckland clinic were surveyed as part of the study in the New Zealand Medical Journal, and  Connor believes they'd react just like anyone else to a minimum alcohol price.

"If there really was enough money to sustain their drinking, they would drink less or perhaps even go forward for treatment."

Connor said the same old excuse that dependent drinkers will turn to crime or harder substances is simply untrue.

"The alcohol industry has a big part in alcohol policy, trying to influence it. One of the things they routinely do is scare-monger about the bad things that will happen if we have good alcohol policy. That's largely what's happening here."