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When Innovation Goes Wrong: Technological Regress and the Opioid Epidemic

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  • David M. Cutler
  • Edward L. Glaeser

Abstract

The fourfold increase in opioid deaths between 2000 and 2017 rivals even the COVID-19 pandemic as a health crisis for America. Why did it happen? Measures of demand for pain relief—physical pain and despair—are high and in many cases rising, but their increase was nowhere near as large as the increase in deaths. The primary shift is in supply, primarily of new forms of allegedly safer narcotics. These new pain relievers flowed in greater volume to areas with more physical pain and mental health impairment, but since their apparent safety was an illusion, opioid deaths followed. By the end of the 2000s, restrictions on legal opioids led to further supply-side innovations, which created the burgeoning illegal market that accounts for the bulk of opioid deaths today. Because opioid use is easier to start than end, America's opioid epidemic is likely to persist for some time.

Suggested Citation

  • David M. Cutler & Edward L. Glaeser, 2021. "When Innovation Goes Wrong: Technological Regress and the Opioid Epidemic," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(4), pages 171-196, Fall.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:35:y:2021:i:4:p:171-96
    DOI: 10.1257/jep.35.4.171
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    10. Anne Case & Angus Deaton & Arthur A. Stone, 2020. "Decoding the mystery of American pain reveals a warning for the future," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(40), pages 24785-24789, October.
    11. Alan B. Krueger, 2017. "Where Have All the Workers Gone? An Inquiry into the Decline of the U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 48(2 (Fall)), pages 1-87.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jeremy Greenwood & Nezih Guner & Karen A. Kopecky, 2022. "The Downward Spiral," NBER Working Papers 29764, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Effrosyni Adamopoulou & Jeremy Greenwood & Nezih Guner & Karen Kopecky, 2024. "The Role of Friends in the Opioid Epidemic," NBER Working Papers 32032, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Amy Finkelstein & Matthew Gentzkow & Dean Li & Heidi L. Williams, 2022. "What Drives Risky Prescription Opioid Use? Evidence from Migration," NBER Working Papers 30471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Angus Deaton, 2022. "The great divide: education, despair, and death," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 57(4), pages 161-168, October.
    5. Jeremy Greenwood & Nezih Guner & Karen A. Kopecky, 2022. "Substance Abuse during the Pandemic: Implications for Labor-Force Participation," Economie d'Avant Garde Research Reports 35, Economie d'Avant Garde.
    6. David M. Cutler & J. Travis Donahoe, 2024. "Thick Market Externalities and the Persistence of the Opioid Epidemic," NBER Working Papers 32055, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Carolina Arteaga & Victoria Barone, 2023. "Democracy and The Opioid Epidemic," Working Papers tecipa-765, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    8. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2023. "Were COVID and the Great Recession Well-being Reducing?," NBER Working Papers 31497, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Sumit Agarwal & Wenli Li & Raluca Roman & Nonna Sorokina, 2023. "The Opioid Epidemic and Consumer Credit Supply: Evidence from Credit Cards," Working Papers 23-28, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    10. Casey B. Mulligan, 2022. "Lethal Unemployment Bonuses? Substitution and Income Effects on Substance Abuse, 2020-21," NBER Working Papers 29719, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Jeremy Greenwood & Nezih Guner & Karen A. Kopecky, 2022. "Did Substance Abuse during the Pandemic Reduce Labor Force Participation?," Policy Hub, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, vol. 2022(5), May.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • L65 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Chemicals; Rubber; Drugs; Biotechnology; Plastics
    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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