Does the economy affect teenage substance use?
- Presenter:
Chair: Rosalie Pacula; Discussant: Gulcin Gumus Wed June 7, 2006 9:45-11:15 Room 309
This research examines how teenage drug and alcohol use responds to changes in the economy. In contrast to the recent literature confirming procyclical alcohol use among adults, this research concludes that a weaker economy leads to greater marijuana and hard-drug use among teenagers. The results for alcohol use suggest no relationship. The findings are based on logistic models with state and year fixed effects, using teenagers from the NLSY-1997. The evidence also indicates that teenagers are more likely to sell drugs in weaker economies. This suggests one mechanism for countercyclical drug use—that access to illicit drugs is easier when the economy is weaker. These results also suggest that the strengthening economy in the 1990s mitigated what would otherwise have been much larger increases in teenage drug use.
