 Opium Price Shocks and Prescription Opioids in the USA*Claudio Deiana, Ludovica Giua and Roberto Nisticò () Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2024, vol. 86, issue 3, 449-484 Abstract: We investigate the effect of international opium price shocks on the per capita dispensation of prescription opioids in the USA. Using quarterly county‐level data for 2002q4–2016q4, three main results emerge. First, reductions in opium prices significantly increase the quantity of opioids prescribed, and more so in counties with a larger pre‐existing market for pain relief, as captured by the incidence of mining sites. Second, the increase involves only natural and semi‐synthetic, but not fully‐synthetic, opioids, suggesting that the effect is moderated by the amount of raw material contained in the products. The impact is larger prior to 2010, when overdose deaths were more related to the use of legally prescribed opioids. Third, advertising expenses, stock prices and the profits of opioid producers increase following negative opium price shocks, suggesting an important role of supply‐side economic incentives. Date: 2024 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:obuest:v:86:y:2024:i:3:p:449-484 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics is currently edited by Christopher Adam, Anindya Banerjee, Christopher Bowdler, David Hendry, Adriaan Kalwij, John Knight and Jonathan Temple More articles in Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics from Department of Economics, University of Oxford Contact information at EDIRC. |
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