Crystal Clear? The Relationship between Methamphetamine Use and Risky Sexual Behavior

Hugo Mialon (), Erik Nesson and Michael Samuel ()
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Hugo Mialon: Department of Economics, Emory University
Michael Samuel: Surveillance and Epidemiology Section, STD Control Branch, California Department of Public Health

No 201301, Working Papers from Ball State University, Department of Economics

Abstract: We estimate the effect of methamphetamine use on risky sexual behavior using California data on amphetamine-related hospital admissions and syphilis diagnoses from 1994 to 2000. Public health officials have cited methamphetamine control as a tool with which to decrease sexually transmitted infections, based on previous research that finds a strong positive correlation between methamphetamine use and risky sexual behavior. However, the observed correlation may not be causal, as both methamphetamine use and risky sexual behavior could be driven by a third factor, such as a preference for risky behavior. To circumvent this possible endogeneity, we use a large exogenous supply shock in the U.S. methamphetamine market that occurred in mid-1995 and a later supply shock stemming from the 1996 Methamphetamine Control Act. While we find that the supply shocks had large negative effects on methamphetamine use, we find no evidence that these decreases in methamphetamine use decreased syphilis rates.

Keywords: Supply Shock; Ephedrine; Methamphetamine; Substance Use; Syphilis; Risky Sexual Behavior; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Sexually Transmitted Infections; STD; STI. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I18 K14 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2013-03, Revised 2013-03
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