http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10847935&dopt=Abstract
All I got was the abstract of this article... but i think it was enough to make some observations.
So the article talks about a study of the elasticity of opium, an addictive drug, in Taiwan from 1895 to 1945. Basically, over time, the Japenese government eliminated the use of opium in Taiwan by various policies including raising the price. A study was done and estimated that the short term demand elasticity was .48 and long term was 1.38. This is evidence that at first an increase in price did not change the quantity demanded and consumption much because of how addictive opium was. As time went on, and prices continued to rise, more consumers of opium turned away from opium and stopped purchasing it or found substitutes to help with their addictions. This kind of trend could probably be seen with most additive drugs, and useful for control of them.
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2 comments:
Excellent article choice! It's surprising that they had the numbers in there - that's unusual.
Really good analysis over what was going on. Interesting!
how do they measure the number of people buying/using opium? is it sold by the government? cuz otherwise, i don't know how'd you'd keep track of that...
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