Title

The Opioid Epidemic Was Not Primarily Caused by Economic Distress But by Other Factors that Can be More Readily Addressed

Author(s)

Janet Currie Janet Currie (Princeton University)

Hannes Schwandt Hannes Schwandt (Northwestern University)

Abstract

Without the opioid epidemic, American life expectancy would not have declined prior to 2020. In turn, the epidemic was sparked by the development and marketing of a new generation of prescription opioids and provider behavior is still helping to drive it. There is little relationship between the opioid crisis and contemporaneous measures of labor market opportunity. Cohorts and areas that experienced poor labor market conditions do show lagged increases in opioid mortality, but the effect is modest relative to the scale of the epidemic. Instead, we argue that there are specific policies and features of the U.S. health care market that led to the current crisis. It will not be possible to quickly reverse depressed economic conditions, but it is possible to implement policies that would reduce the number of new opioid addicts and save the lives of many of those who are already addicted.

Creation Date

2020-08

Section URL ID

Paper Number

2020-25

URL

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w27544/w27544.pdf

File Function

Jel

I12, I14

Keyword(s)

opioid epidemic, health

Suppress

false

Series

13