Working Paper: NBER ID: w31609
Authors: Dhaval M. Dave; Bilge Erten; Pinar Keskin; Shuo Zhang
Abstract: We provide the first study of the downstream effects of a key supply-side intervention – the abuse-deterrent reformulation of a widely-diverted opioid, OxyContin – on intimate partner violence (IPV), the most common form of violence experienced by women. Leveraging administrative data on victim-reported incidents to law enforcement, combined with quasi-experimental methods, we find robust evidence that the reformulation significantly reduced IPV exposure for women. This overall decline, however, masks heterogeneity across subpopulations, and a notable uptick in heroin-involved IPV, underscoring the importance of identifying populations at high risk of substitution to illicit opioids and moderating this risk with evidence-based policies.
Keywords: opioid policies; intimate partner violence; spillover effects; abuse-deterrent reformulation; OxyContin
JEL Codes: H0; I12; I18; K0
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Reformulation of OxyContin (O30) | Decline in IPV rates (J12) |
| Increase in pre-reformulation exposure to prescription opioids (I14) | Decline in IPV rates (J12) |
| Reformulation of OxyContin (O30) | Increase in heroin-involved IPV incidents (J12) |
| Reformulation of OxyContin (O30) | Identification of populations at higher risk of transitioning to illicit opioids (R23) |