IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejpol/v14y2022i4p192-231.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Hazards of Unwinding the Prescription Opioid Epidemic: Implications for Child Maltreatment

Author

Listed:
  • Mary F. Evans
  • Matthew C. Harris
  • Lawrence M. Kessler

Abstract

Child maltreatment has significant and long-lasting consequences. We examine how two interventions designed to curtail prescription opioid misuse, the reformulation of OxyContin and the implementation of must-access prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), affected child maltreatment. Our results suggest counties with greater initial rates of prescription opioid usage experienced relatively larger increases in child physical abuse and neglect after OxyContin's reformulation. We also find some evidence of increases in alleged physical abuse and neglect due to must-access PDMP implementation. Our results uncover unintended consequences for children of reducing the supply of an addictive good without adequate support for dependent users.

Suggested Citation

  • Mary F. Evans & Matthew C. Harris & Lawrence M. Kessler, 2022. "The Hazards of Unwinding the Prescription Opioid Epidemic: Implications for Child Maltreatment," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 192-231, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:14:y:2022:i:4:p:192-231
    DOI: 10.1257/pol.20200301
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20200301
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/E146542V1
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20200301.appx
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20200301.ds
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/pol.20200301?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adamopoulou, Effrosyni & Greenwood, Jeremy & Guner, Nezih & Kopecky, Karen, 2024. "The Role of Friends in the Opioid Epidemic," CEPR Discussion Papers 18803, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Mir M. Ali & Thanh Lu & Johanna Catherine Maclean & Angélica Meinhofer, 2024. "Mental Health, Substance Use, and Child Maltreatment," NBER Working Papers 32895, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Sim, Yongbo, 2023. "The effect of opioids on crime: Evidence from the introduction of OxyContin," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    4. Buckles, Kasey & Evans, William N. & Lieber, Ethan M.J., 2023. "The drug crisis and the living arrangements of children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • K32 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Energy, Environmental, Health, and Safety Law
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • L65 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Chemicals; Rubber; Drugs; Biotechnology; Plastics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:14:y:2022:i:4:p:192-231. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.