Rational self-medication

Michael E. Darden and Nicholas W. Papageorge

Economics & Human Biology, 2024, vol. 53, issue C

Abstract: We develop a model of rational self-medication in which individuals use potentially dangerous or addictive substances (e.g., alcohol) to manage symptoms of illness (e.g., depression) outside of formal medical care. A model implication is that the emergence of better treatments reduces incentives to self-medicate. To investigate, we use forty years of longitudinal data from the Framingham Heart Study and leverage the exogenous introduction of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). We demonstrate an economically meaningful reduction in alcohol consumption when SSRIs became available. Our findings illustrate how the effects of medical innovation operate, in part, through changes in behavior.

Keywords: Self-medication; Depression; Mental health; Rational addiction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:53:y:2024:i:c:s1570677x24000029

DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101350

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