Opioid epidemic and corporate innovation

Chong Chen, Qianqian Huang, Chang Shi and Tao Yuan

Journal of Corporate Finance, 2024, vol. 86, issue C

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of the local opioid epidemic on corporate innovation. Utilizing a large sample of U.S. public firms from 2003 to 2017, we find that firms located in counties with higher death rates caused by opioid overdoses are significantly less innovative as measured by their patenting activities. To establish causality, we exploit the state implementations of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) as quasi-experiments and an instrumented variable approach. We find suggestive evidence that the opioid epidemic hinders local firms' innovation by increasing healthcare costs, decreasing productivity, and through the exodus of local inventors.

Keywords: Opioid crisis; Corporate innovation; Inventors; Productivity; Mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G30 G38 I10 O30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119924000488
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:corfin:v:86:y:2024:i:c:s0929119924000488

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2024.102586

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Corporate Finance is currently edited by A. Poulsen and J. Netter

More articles in Journal of Corporate Finance from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().