The Effects of the Opioid Crisis on Employment

2023/04/06 by Anita Mukherjee, Daniel W. Sacks, Hoyoung Yoo
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Taxation and Compliance Studies #Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth #Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics

paper · doi:10.3368/jhr.1121-12018r2

Abstract

<h3>Abstract</h3> We show that the opioid crisis slows transitions to employment from unemployment and non-participation. We identify the effect of the opioid crisis from cross-state variation in triplicate prescribing regulations, which produced long-lasting reductions in opioid use by reducing the initial distribution of the blockbuster opioid OxyContin. Difference-in-differences estimates show that triplicate regulations induce unemployed and non-participating workers in triplicate states to return to employment about 10 percent faster than workers in non-triplicate states. These estimates imply a 1.1 percentage point higher level of employment in steady state.

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