While increased levels bootlegging and Moonshining could be directly attributed to Prohibition, increases in prosperity are not so easy to credit to Prohibition. The price of alcohol skyrocketed virtually overnight. Per capita consumption of alcohol rose dramatically. Excise tax losses on alcohol was estimated at 500 million dollars per year. The cost of enforcing prohibition was more than 13 million dollars annually. (these estimates were made in 1920 dollars) After the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing "Great Depression" the prosperity argument, was obviously dropped.