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Do Medical Marijuana Laws Reduce Addictions And Deaths Related To Pain Killers?, David Powell, Rosalie Pacula, Mireille Jacobson Feb 2018

Do Medical Marijuana Laws Reduce Addictions And Deaths Related To Pain Killers?, David Powell, Rosalie Pacula, Mireille Jacobson

David Powell

Recent work finds that medical marijuana laws reduce the daily doses filled for opioid analgesics among Medicare Part-D and Medicaid enrollees, as well as population-wide opioid overdose deaths. We replicate the result for opioid overdose deaths and explore the potential mechanism. The key feature of a medical marijuana law that facilitates a reduction in overdose death rates is a relatively liberal allowance for dispensaries.  As states have become more stringent in their regulation of dispensaries, the protective value generally has fallen. These findings suggest that broader access to medical marijuana facilitates substitution of marijuana for powerful and addictive opioids. 


Your Friends And Neighbors: Localized Economic Development And Criminal Activity, Matthew Freedman, Emily Owens Mar 2014

Your Friends And Neighbors: Localized Economic Development And Criminal Activity, Matthew Freedman, Emily Owens

Matthew Freedman

We exploit a sudden shock to demand for a subset of low-wage workers generated by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program in San Antonio, Texas to identify the effects of localized economic development on crime. We use a difference-in-difference methodology that takes advantage of variation in BRAC’s impact over time and across neighborhoods. We find that appropriative criminal behavior increases in neighborhoods where a fraction of residents experienced increases in earnings. This effect is driven by residents who were unlikely to be BRAC beneficiaries, implying that criminal opportunities are important in explaining patterns of crime.

Forthcoming in the …


Ownership, Bank Organization And Retail Lending In A Low Income Area, Paola Bongini, Laura Nieri, Maria Luisa Di Battista, Simone Rossi Dec 2010

Ownership, Bank Organization And Retail Lending In A Low Income Area, Paola Bongini, Laura Nieri, Maria Luisa Di Battista, Simone Rossi

Paola Bongini

The focus of this study is on the organizational features of banks operating in the South of Italy, namely major Italian banking groups and local independent banks. In our opinion, in order to evaluate the allocative and operational efficiency of the Southern Italian banking system, the issue to be addressed relates to the potential heterogeneous behavior between banks which are “truly local” – i.e. those banks whose real decisional centres are located in the Southern regions – with respect to those banks operating in the South but which have their decisional centres located in the Centre-North of the country (“outer …


Judging Science: An Essay On The Unscientific Basis Of Beliefs About The Impact Of Law On Science And The Need For Better Data About Law, Gillian K. Hadfield Aug 2006

Judging Science: An Essay On The Unscientific Basis Of Beliefs About The Impact Of Law On Science And The Need For Better Data About Law, Gillian K. Hadfield

Gillian K Hadfield

No abstract provided.


Is The Drug Court Model Exportable? The Cost-Effectiveness Of A, Christine Eibner, Andrew Morral, Rosalie L. Pacula, John Macdonald Jun 2006

Is The Drug Court Model Exportable? The Cost-Effectiveness Of A, Christine Eibner, Andrew Morral, Rosalie L. Pacula, John Macdonald

Rosalie Liccardo Pacula

We assessed the cost-effectiveness of the Rio Hondo driving-under-the-influence (DUI) court, a therapeutic court intervention in Los Angeles County targeted to repeat DUI offenders. The effectiveness of this court intervention was determined through a randomized controlled field experiment. Although prior research does not identify differences in alcohol-related or criminal behavior between treated and control individuals at follow-up, we found improvements in behavior for all program participants regardless of treatment status. A cost minimization analysis found that, on average, cost of the DUI court exceeded traditional court expenditures for second-time offenders but produced cost savings for third-time offenders. This suggests that …