Supply-Side Drug Policy, Polydrug Use, and the Economic Effects of Withdrawal Symptoms / Alexander Ahammer, Analisa Packham.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ahammer, Alexander.

Contributor:

Packham, Analisa.

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w32804.

NBER working paper series no. w32804

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2024.

Summary:

Despite the fact that 30 percent of opioid overdoses also involve a benzodiazepine, there is little policy guidance on how to curb concurrent misuse and even less evidence on how changes to co-prescribing practices can affect patients' economic trajectories. In 2012, Austria restricted access to flunitrazepam, one of the most potent, and most heavily misused, benzodiazepines. We use linked individual-level data to identify opioid users and estimate the reform's impact on their health and labor market outcomes relative to a randomly selected comparison group of non-opioid users. Estimates indicate a 12.7 percent drop in employment, a 13.1 percent increase in unemployment insurance claims, and a 26.5 percent increase in overall healthcare expenditures. We provide suggestive evidence that these effects are due to incapacitating withdrawal symptoms, rather than substitution to other drugs, including heroin or alcohol.

Notes:

August 2024.

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