IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp10895.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Going after the Addiction, Not the Addicted: The Impact of Drug Decriminalization in Portugal

Author

Listed:
  • Félix, Sónia

    (Banco de Portugal)

  • Portugal, Pedro

    (Banco de Portugal)

  • Tavares, Ana

    (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of drug decriminalization in Portugal using the Synthetic Control Method. The applied econometric methodology compares Portuguese drug-related variables with the ones extracted from a convex combination of similar European countries. The results suggest that a policy change implemented in Portugal contributed to a decrease in the number of heroine and cocaine seizures, a decrease in the number of offenses and drug-related deaths, and a decrease in the number of clients entering treatment. Moreover, the policy change contributed to a reduction in the incidence of drug addicts among HIV individuals.

Suggested Citation

  • Félix, Sónia & Portugal, Pedro & Tavares, Ana, 2017. "Going after the Addiction, Not the Addicted: The Impact of Drug Decriminalization in Portugal," IZA Discussion Papers 10895, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10895
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp10895.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan Ours & Stephen Pudney, 2006. "On the Economics of Illicit Drugs," De Economist, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 483-490, December.
    2. Alberto Abadie & Javier Gardeazabal, 2003. "The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case Study of the Basque Country," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 113-132, March.
    3. Reinarman, C. & Cohen, P.D.A. & Kaal, H.L., 2004. "The Limited Relevance of Drug Policy: Cannabis in Amsterdam and in San Francisco," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(5), pages 836-842.
    4. Abadie, Alberto & Diamond, Alexis & Hainmueller, Jens, 2010. "Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California’s Tobacco Control Program," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 105(490), pages 493-505.
    5. Félix, Sónia & Portugal, Pedro, 2015. "Drug Decriminalization and the Price of Illicit Drugs," IZA Discussion Papers 8848, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "A Theory of Rational Addiction," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 675-700, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lucas Marín Llanes & Hernando Zuleta, 2022. "Myths of drug consumption decriminalization: effects of Portuguese decriminalization on violent and drug use mortality," Documentos CEDE 20328, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    2. Noah Spencer, 2022. "Does decriminalization cause more drug overdose deaths? Evidence from Oregon Measure 110," Working Papers tecipa-745, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    3. Bibek Adhikari, 2022. "A Guide to Using the Synthetic Control Method to Quantify the Effects of Shocks, Policies, and Shocking Policies," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 67(1), pages 46-63, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leah K. Lakdawala & David Simon, 2017. "The Intergenerational Consequences of Tobacco Policy: A Review of Policy's Influence on Maternal Smoking and Child Health," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(1), pages 229-274, July.
    2. Francesconi, Marco & James, Jonathan, 2021. "None for the Road? Stricter Drink Driving Laws and Road Accidents," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Abbate Nicolás & Cabral Juan Andrés, 2023. "Reassessing a cocaine shock: a contrary narrative from Rabo de Peixe," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4628, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    4. Daniel Albalate & Germà Bel & Ferran A. Mazaira-Font, 2020. "Ensuring Stability, Accuracy and Meaningfulness in Synthetic Control Methods: The Regularized SHAP-Distance Method," IREA Working Papers 202005, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Apr 2020.
    5. Bruno Ferman & Cristine Pinto & Vitor Possebom, 2020. "Cherry Picking with Synthetic Controls," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 510-532, March.
    6. Manuel Funke & Moritz Schularick & Christoph Trebesch, 2023. "Populist Leaders and the Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(12), pages 3249-3288, December.
    7. Maximiliano Marzetti & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Long-Term Economic Effects of Populist Legal Reforms: Evidence from Argentina," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(1), pages 60-95, March.
    8. De los Santos, Babur & Kim, In Kyung & Lubensky, Dmitry, 2018. "Do MSRPs decrease prices?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 429-457.
      • Babur De los Santos & In Kyung Kim & Dmitry Lubensky, 2013. "Do MSRPs Decrease Prices?," Working Papers 2013-13, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    9. Stefano Costalli & Luigi Moretti & Costantino Pischedda, 2014. "The Economic Costs of Civil War: Synthetic Counterfactual Evidence and the Effects of Ethnic Fractionalization," HiCN Working Papers 184, Households in Conflict Network.
    10. Matthias Krapf & David Staubli, 2020. "The Corporate Elasticity of Taxable Income: Event Study Evidence from Switzerland," CESifo Working Paper Series 8715, CESifo.
    11. Chiara Cavaglia & Sandra McNally & Henry G. Overman, 2020. "Devolving Skills: The Case of the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(4), pages 829-849, December.
    12. Sheng, Yu & Xu, Xinpeng, 2019. "The productivity impact of climate change: Evidence from Australia's Millennium drought," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 182-191.
    13. Mthuli Ncube & Basil Jones, 2014. "Working Paper 197 - Estimating the Economic Cost of Fragility in Africa," Working Paper Series 2105, African Development Bank.
    14. Sadeghi, Ali & Kibler, Ewald, 2022. "Do bankruptcy laws matter for entrepreneurship? A Synthetic Control Method analysis of a bankruptcy reform in Finland," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    15. Mayank Aggarwal & Anindya S. Chakrabarti & Chirantan Chatterjee, 2023. "Movies, stigma and choice: Evidence from the pharmaceutical industry," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 1019-1039, May.
    16. Augusto Cerqua & Roberta Di Stefano, 2022. "When did coronavirus arrive in Europe?," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 31(1), pages 181-195, March.
    17. Stefano Cascino & Ane Tamayo & Felix Vetter, 2021. "Labor Market Effects of Spatial Licensing Requirements: Evidence from CPA Mobility," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 111-161, March.
    18. Wang, Bo & Li, Fan & Feng, Shuyi & Shen, Tong, 2020. "Transfer of development rights, farmland preservation, and economic growth: a case study of Chongqing’s land quotas trading program," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    19. César Martinelli & Marco Vega, 2019. "The Economic Legacy of General Velasco: Long-Term Consequences of Interventionism," Revista Economía, Fondo Editorial - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, vol. 42(84), pages 102-133.
    20. Endrich, Marek, 2020. "The good tourist, the bad refugee and the ugly German: Xenophobic activities and tourism," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224604, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    drug decriminalization policy; illicit drugs; synthetic control method;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10895. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.