Substance-abuse treatment and mortality

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Swensen, Isaac D.
• 署名单位: Montana State University System; Montana State University Bozeman
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.12.008
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 13-30
• 关键词: Drug abuse; mortality; Substance-abuse treatment; Public health; Health economics

摘要

Drug-overdose deaths, which have more than doubled over the past decade, represent a growing public-health concern. Though substance-abuse treatment may be effective in reducing drug abuse, evidence for a causal effect of treatment on drug-related mortality is lacking. I analyze the effect of substance-abuse treatment on mortality by exploiting county-level variation in treatment facilities driven by facility openings and closings. The estimates indicate that a 10% increase in facilities lowers a county's drug-induced mortality rate by 2%. The estimated effects persist across individual and county characteristics and further indicate that spillovers of treatment reduce other related causes of death. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.