{"title":"How Do Local Government Finances Respond to the Opioid Epidemics? Evidence From Hydrocodone Rescheduling","authors":"Felipe Lozano-Rojas","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3666448","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3666448","url":null,"abstract":"The opioid epidemic has dramatically impacted communities across the United States. According to the Center for Disease Control statistics, more than 72,000 people died from an overdose in 2017, of which two-thirds were opioid-related. In this study, I address the effects of such an epidemic directly on the finances of local governments. Specifically, I use the exposure to hydrocodone prescriptions and the rescheduling among regulated substances by the DEA as a source of exogenous variation and compare results in three settings: standard difference-in-difference, and counterfactual created using nearest neighbors regression and generalized random forests. I find that the rescheduling led to an increase in health expenditures driven mainly by localities that are still, as of 2016, suffering the epidemics. This is consistent for the standard difference-in-difference as well as for the nearest neighbor regressions. A similar finding is obtained using generalized random forests with noisier estimates, however, heterogeneity is determined by race, education, and prevalence of rural population instead of overdose rates.","PeriodicalId":421952,"journal":{"name":"Psychiatry eJournal","volume":"130 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114363491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Macroeconomic Crisis and the Gender Gap in Mental Health: Evidence from the 2009 Great Recession","authors":"Sumit S. Deole","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3508325","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3508325","url":null,"abstract":"This paper uses a detailed country-level dataset to study how the 2009 Great Recession differently affected gender-specific mental health and the gender gap in mental health in the USA. The country’s mental health is measured in terms of the population share suffering from mental health and substance use disorders, where higher numbers denote worse mental health outcomes. The results suggest that overall mental health in the USA worsened due to post-recession increase in economic distress. Despite the evidence that the recession increased the relative unemployment of American males, I find inconclusive evidence of the recession’s impact on male mental health. In contrast, female mental health observed worsening post-2009 Great Recession, culminating in the substantial widening of the already high gender gap in mental health in the USA. The estimates indicate that female mental health worsened by around 3.1% of the pre-treatment mean, whereas the gender gap in mental health widened by the 14.8% of the pre-treatment mean. By referring to existing research, I underline non-economic channels (increased household-level stress, worsened relationship quality, increased domestic violence) that help explain how the crisis-induced economic distress translated into the widened gender gap in mental health.","PeriodicalId":421952,"journal":{"name":"Psychiatry eJournal","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132326662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Opioid Epidemic and Local Public Financing: Evidence from Municipal Bonds","authors":"Wei Li, Qifei Zhu","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3454026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3454026","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the impact of the opioid epidemic on the financing costs of local governments. We find that a higher county-level drug overdose death rate raises offering yield spreads for local municipal bond issuers, while lowering their debt capacity. A causal interpretation is suggested by a 2SLS approach, using the distances between counties and their closest opioid manufacturer as instruments. Additionally, counties in states that introduced must-access prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP) experienced a reduction in borrowing costs afterwards. The opioid crisis hurts issuer creditworthiness by reducing future governmental revenues and increasing police and criminal justice expenditures.","PeriodicalId":421952,"journal":{"name":"Psychiatry eJournal","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117050317","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Role of Psychology in the Study of Social Reconciliation: a Review of Existing Relevant Literature on Inter-Personal, Inter-Group and Inter-State Conflict","authors":"Mariya M. Yarlykova, Yu Xunda","doi":"10.31014/aior.1991.02.03.116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31014/aior.1991.02.03.116","url":null,"abstract":"Traditionally, reconciliation includes conflict resolution and peacemaking process primarily focusing on the methods and mechanisms involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of intra- or inter-group conflicts such as negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and other. Practically, states can normalized relationship fairly rapidly and achieve government-to-government reconciliation, but factually the former adversaries cannot build a stable peace even if the military actions have been stopped. States can become friends fast, but societies not. Therefore, the study of reconciliation slowly has been moved to social-psychological approaches viewing reconciliation as a more comprehensive phenomenon than only conflict resolution. The article examines the concept of reconciliation and the role of psychology in the study of conflict settlement with the emphasis on social reconciliation and identity change as a core element of building deep stable peace between former rival-parties portraying the existing relevant socio-psychological and political literature on inter-personal, inter-group and inter-state conflict.","PeriodicalId":421952,"journal":{"name":"Psychiatry eJournal","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133304991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Convergence Analysis of 5 Suicide Measures for 57 Countries During 1995 to 2015","authors":"Yu Sang Chang","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3418728","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3418728","url":null,"abstract":"An estimated 804,000 suicide deaths occurred in 2012, representing an annual global age-standardized suicide ratio of 11.4 per 100,000 populations. Suicide ratios are not distributed evenly across people or places, varying by income level, gender, and age. Changes in suicide ratios over time also differ across people and places. This paper will examine dynamic changes of suicide ratios across 5 suicide measures for 57 countries as well as for 8 subgroups of countries during the period of 1995 to 2015 using the method of convergence analysis. The results show a wide variation in terms of annual reduction rate of suicide ratios and annual speed of catch-up effects by the subgroups of countries across the 5 suicide measures. Implications from these findings will be discussed.","PeriodicalId":421952,"journal":{"name":"Psychiatry eJournal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126741922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pranayama Yoga: Measuring Brainwaves via EEG","authors":"Rebecca Bhik-Ghanie","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3434132","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3434132","url":null,"abstract":"Differences in baseline electroencephalogram (EEG) activity have been found among long-time practitioners of meditation (3+ years) in comparison to novice meditators (<1 year). In the current study, 10 participants (5 experienced meditators; 5 novices) engaged in a series of weekly, 20-minute Open Heart Meditation (OHM) practices; 5 control participants (all novices) engaged in a 20-minute reading/study session. EEG activity was measured in all participants during the first and final sessions. While the differences did not reach statistical significance, there were differences in the expected direction, suggesting an increase in baseline mean frequency of EEG measurements within the beta range for experienced meditators in comparison to novices and controls, suggesting an increase in neurological engagement during meditation. These findings suggest that there are potential neurological gains of certain meditative practices, which should lead to further investigation into the merits of meditative practice as a form of therapy.","PeriodicalId":421952,"journal":{"name":"Psychiatry eJournal","volume":"10 3","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131653301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Investor Psycology and Behavioural Finance","authors":"Chabi Gupta","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3432901","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3432901","url":null,"abstract":"Behavioural finance theories and models argue that the definition of stock prices is influenced by psychological, cognitive and emotional factors of investors. The presence of investors, who do not act rationally on the stock market, and the fact that psychological and emotional factors are effective in the decision-making process distract the stock market from being effective.<br><br>Determining the investor behaviours that cause the anomalies detected in the stock market and putting out the possible reasons is important in terms of estimating the share price. In this study, information was given on traditional finance theories that accept individuals as rational. Behavioural finance models and theories were examined to investigate irrational behaviour. In addition, anomalies resulting from irrational behaviour of investors and investor behaviour were examined, and also the relationship between investor behaviours and anomalies was examined.<br><br>In finance, academic research on behaviour started in the 1980s. The use of behavioural finance concepts in institutional investing took hold in the 1990s. Behavioural concepts guided the creation of models that used earnings expectation data beginning in 1990. It took several more years before behavioural finance started to gain traction with institutional investors. <br>","PeriodicalId":421952,"journal":{"name":"Psychiatry eJournal","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130482279","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Causal Link between Major Depressive Disorder, Suicidal Behavior and Filicide","authors":"G. Tănăsescu","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3387982","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3387982","url":null,"abstract":"This article describes the causal link between major depressive disorder, suicidal behavior and filicide. The filicide perpetrator is a person affected by major depressive disorder, the passage to the act does not manifest itself as an ordinary delinquent act, but has a specific etiology that sometimes involves suicidal behavior and conjugal crime. In 2014, Turhan Canli publishes in the Biology of Mood & Anxiety Disorders a study on the re-conceptualization of the major depressive disorder as an infectious disease in which he suggests that major depression may result from a parasitic, bacterial or viral infection. Major depression and antisocial personality disorder can trigger the transformation of the criminal ego by overcoming the barrier of moral and religious inhibitions, emphasizing the transition to the crime. From a psychoanalytic and victimological point of view, the destructive attachment of the victims of marital crime that return to the aggressor after being physically abused is also analyzed.","PeriodicalId":421952,"journal":{"name":"Psychiatry eJournal","volume":"247 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121100025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Taking the Measure of a Fatal Drug Epidemic","authors":"C. Ruhm","doi":"10.3386/W22504","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3386/W22504","url":null,"abstract":"This analysis utilizes death certificate data from the Multiple Cause of Death (MCOD) files to better measure the specific drugs involved in drug poisoning fatalities. Statistical adjustment procedures are used to provide more accurate estimates, accounting for the understatement in death certificate reports resulting because no drug is specified in between one-fifth and one-quarter of cases. The adjustment procedures typically raise the estimates of specific types of drug involvement by 30% to 50% and emphasize the importance of the simultaneous use of multiple categories of drugs. Using these adjusted estimates, an analysis is next provided of drugs accounting for the rapid increase over time in fatal overdoses. The frequency of combination drug use introduces uncertainty into these estimates and so a distinction is made between any versus exclusive involvement of specific drug types. Many of the results are sensitive to the starting and ending years chosen for examination, with a key role of prescription opioids for analysis windows starting in 1999 but with other drugs, particularly heroin deaths, becoming more significant in more recent years and, again, with confirmatory evidence of the importance of simultaneous drug use.","PeriodicalId":421952,"journal":{"name":"Psychiatry eJournal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128770110","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Rational Addiction Under Uncertainty","authors":"Zaifu Yang, Rong Zhang","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3945511","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3945511","url":null,"abstract":"We develop a new model of addictive behavior that takes as a starting point the classic rational addiction model of Becker and Murphy, but incorporates uncertainty. We model uncertainty through the Brownian motion process. This process is used to capture both random events such as exposure to harmful substances, anxiety, tensions and environmental cues which can precipitate and exacerbate addictions, and those sober and thought-provoking episodes that discourage addictions. We derive closed-form formulas for optimal addictive consumption and capital trajectories and examine their global and local properties. Our theory provides plausible explanations of several typical patterns of addictive behavior and has also novel policy implications.","PeriodicalId":421952,"journal":{"name":"Psychiatry eJournal","volume":"132 ","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"113993061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}