The Economic Analysis of Substance Use and Abuse

Currently developed countries pay much more attention to harmfully addictive substances than developing countries. However, the experience of developed countries is very relevant to the developing world since substance abuse is likely to impose a continually increasing burden of disease in this region in the near future. This book extends the frontiers of research on the economics of substance use and abuse in a variety of extremely significant ways. It focuses on the determinants and consequences of the consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, betel quid, and illicit drugs in the United States, Great Britain and Taiwan. The authors use a variety of empirical techniques to examine the roles of price, advertising, risk perception, time preference and forward-looking behaviour in consumption decisions and the effects of these decisions on labour market outcomes, unintended pregnancies and criminal violence. Economic Analysis of Substance Use and Abuse will be required reading for scholars of economic development and health economics.