Pharmaceutical Drug Misuse, Industry of Employment and Occupation

Sarah Brown (), Mark Harris, Jake Prendergast and Preety Pratima Srivastava ()
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Jake Prendergast: School of Economics and Finance, Curtin University

No WP1501, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Working Paper series from Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School

Abstract: We contribute to the existing literature on drug consumption by analysing the misuse of pharmaceutical drugs, which has attracted scant attention in the economics literature. Specifically, using individual level data, we explore the determinants of pharmaceutical drug misuse and focus on potential industry and occupation effects, which have been associated with the consumption of other (licit and illicit) drugs. In order to place the misuse of pharmaceutical drugs into context, we also consider other illicit drugs: namely cannabis, speed, and ecstasy. We find a positive association between the consumption of pharmaceutical drugs and employment in the hospitality industry, which contrasts with an inverse relationship in the case of the retail, and finance and insurance industries. In addition, our findings suggest that individuals employed in managerial, professional, sales and clerical/administration occupations are less likely to consume pharmaceuticals relative to labourers, indicating a clear disparity across white collar and blue collar occupations.

Keywords: Industry; Labour Market Participation; Occupation; Pharmaceutical drugs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C5 D1 I1 J00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2015-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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