IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ejw/journl/v20y2023i1p45-68.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Origins of the Opioid Crisis Reexamined

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Kaestner

Abstract

In an article in the Quarterly Journal of Economics titled “Origins of the Opioid Crisis and Its Enduring Impacts,” Abby Alpert, William Evans, Ethan Lieber, and David Powell investigate the cause of the origins and persistence of the opioid crisis. Alpert, Evans, Lieber, and Powell suggest that “the introduction of OxyContin explains 79% of the rise in the overdose death rate since 1996.” In this article, I discuss several conceptual and empirical problems with the article that render the evidence in it largely uninformative about the role of OxyContin in the opioid epidemic. I believe that it is reasonable to think that the introduction and marketing of OxyContin accounts for some percentage of the increase in deaths from opioids, but only as part of the broad increase in all prescription opioids that occurred from 1991 to 2012.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Kaestner, 2023. "Origins of the Opioid Crisis Reexamined," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 20(1), pages 1-45–68, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:20:y:2023:i:1:p:45-68
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econjwatch.org/File+download/1260/KaestnerMar2023.pdf?mimetype=pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://econjwatch.org/1306
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anne Case & Angus Deaton, 2017. "Mortality and Morbidity in the 21st Century," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 48(1 (Spring), pages 397-476.
    2. Congressional Budget Office, 2022. "The Opioid Crisis and Recent Federal Policy Responses," Reports 58221, Congressional Budget Office.
    3. Anne Case & Angua Deaton, 2015. "Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century," Working Papers 15078.full.pdf, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Alexander Cheung & Joseph Marchand & Patricia Mark, 2022. "Loss of Life and Labor Productivity: The Canadian Opioid Crisis," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 703(1), pages 303-323, September.
    2. Fernández Guerrico, Sofía, 2021. "The effects of trade-induced worker displacement on health and mortality in Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    3. Haan, Peter & Hammerschmid, Anna & Schmieder, Julia, 2019. "Mortality in midlife for subgroups in Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 14.
    4. Ilaria Natali & Mathias Dewatripont & Victor Ginsburgh & Michel Goldman & Patrick Legros, 2023. "Prescription opioids and economic hardship in France," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 24(9), pages 1473-1504, December.
    5. Cristina Borra & Jerònia Pons-Pons & Margarita Vilar-Rodríguez, 2020. "Austerity, healthcare provision, and health outcomes in Spain," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(3), pages 409-423, April.
    6. Buckles, Kasey & Evans, William N. & Lieber, Ethan M.J., 2023. "The drug crisis and the living arrangements of children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    7. Kevin Milligan & Tammy Schirle, 2021. "The evolution of longevity: Evidence from Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(1), pages 164-192, February.
    8. Deaton, Angus, 2018. "What do self-reports of wellbeing say about life-cycle theory and policy?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 18-25.
    9. Shannon M. Monnat, 2022. "Demographic and Geographic Variation in Fatal Drug Overdoses in the United States, 1999–2020," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 703(1), pages 50-78, September.
    10. McGranahan, David & Parker, Timothy, 2021. "The Opioid Epidemic: A Geography in Two Phases," Economic Research Report 327197, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    11. Mateus Dias & Luiz Felipe Fontes, 2024. "The Effects of a Large-Scale Mental Health Reform: Evidence from Brazil," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 257-289, August.
    12. Aliprantis, Dionissi & Fee, Kyle & Schweitzer, Mark E., 2023. "Opioids and the labor market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    13. Samuel Taylor & Heather M. Stephens & Daniel Grossman, 2022. "The opioid crisis and economic distress: Consequences for population change," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 541-577, March.
    14. O'Connor, Kelsey J. & Graham, Carol, 2019. "Longer, more optimistic, lives: Historic optimism and life expectancy in the United States," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 374-392.
    15. Powell, David & Pacula, Rosalie Liccardo & Jacobson, Mireille, 2018. "Do medical marijuana laws reduce addictions and deaths related to pain killers?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 29-42.
    16. Enghin Atalay, 2024. "A twenty-first century of solitude? Time alone and together in the United States," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 1-33, March.
    17. Perry, Seth W & Allison, Stephen & Bastiampillai, Tarun & Wong, Ma-Li & Licinio, Julio & Sharfstein, Steven S. & Wilcox, Holly C., 2019. "Rising US Suicides: Achieving Health Equity," OSF Preprints m5q64, Center for Open Science.
    18. Powell, David & Pacula, Rosalie Liccardo & Taylor, Erin, 2020. "How increasing medical access to opioids contributes to the opioid epidemic: Evidence from Medicare Part D," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    19. Thomas K. Bauer & Matthias Giesecke & Laura M. Janisch, 2017. "Forced Migration and Mortality," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1709, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    20. Bilal, Usama & Knapp, Emily & Cooper, Richard, 2017. "Swing Voting in the 2016 Presidential Election in Counties Where Midlife Mortality has been Rising in White Non-Hispanic Americans," SocArXiv jk3n4, Center for Open Science.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Opioids; mortality; clinical practice; marketing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    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:ejw:journl:v:20:y:2023:i:1:p:45-68. 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: Jason Briggeman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/edgmuus.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.