Working Paper: NBER ID: w25371
Authors: Michael E. Darden; Nicholas W. Papageorge
Abstract: We develop a model of rational self-medication in which individuals use potentially dangerous or addictive substances (e.g., alcohol) to manage symptoms of illness (e.g., depression) outside of formal medical care. A model implication is that the emergence of better treatments reduces incentives to self-medicate. To investigate, we use forty years of longitudinal data from the Framingham Heart Study and leverage the exogenous introduction of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). We demonstrate an economically meaningful reduction in alcohol consumption when SSRIs became available. Our findings illustrate how the effects of medical innovation operate, in part, through changes in behavior.
Keywords: self-medication; SSRIs; alcohol consumption; depression; health economics
JEL Codes: I10; I12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| SSRIs (Y40) | alcohol consumption (L66) |
| SSRIs (Y40) | depressive symptoms (D91) |
| depressive symptoms (D91) | alcohol consumption (L66) |
| SSRIs (Y40) | alcohol abstinence (L66) |
| alcohol consumption (L66) | self-medication (I12) |