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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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    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. Louis‐Philippe Beland & Jason Huh & Dongwoo Kim, 2024. "The effect of opioid use on traffic fatalities," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(6), pages 1123-1132, June.
    3. Adamopoulou, Effrosyni & Greenwood, Jeremy & Guner, Nezih & Kopecky, Karen, 2024. "The Role of Friends in the Opioid Epidemic," CEPR Discussion Papers 18803, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Ahomäki, Iiro & Böckerman, Petri & Pehkonen, Jaakko & Saastamoinen, Leena, 2024. "Effect of an Information Intervention on Opioid Prescribing: A Preregistered Nationwide Randomized Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 17416, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Evan D. Peet & David Powell & Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, 2024. "Using Policy and Innovation to Improve Life-Saving Access to Naloxone," NBER Working Papers 33105, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Jeremy Greenwood & Nezih Guner & Karen A. Kopecky, 2022. "Substance Abuse during the Pandemic: Implications for Labor-Force Participation," Working Papers 1335, Barcelona School of Economics.
    9. 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.
    10. Carolina Arteaga & Victoria Barone, 2023. "Democracy and The Opioid Epidemic," Working Papers tecipa-765, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. Chen, Chong & Huang, Qianqian & Shi, Chang & Yuan, Tao, 2024. "Opioid epidemic and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    14. 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.
    15. 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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