The economic analysis of substance abuse.

The NBER recently sponsored a project on substance use and abuse, directed by Research Associates Frank J. Chaloupka, University of Illinois, Chicago; Michael Grossman, CUNY; and Henry Saffer, Kean College; and Warren K. Bickel, University of Vermont. The culmination of this project was a conference, held in Cambridge on March 27-8, which integrated the econometric and behavioral research produced by the economists and behavioral psychologists involved. The program for the two-day meeting was:

Donald S. Kenkel, Cornell University, and Ping Wang, Pennsylvania State University, "Are Alcoholics in Bad Jobs?"

Kenneth Silverman and Elias Robles, Johns Hopkins University, "Employment as a Drug Abuse Treatment Intervention: A Behavioral Economic Analysis"

Discussants: Sharon Hall, University of California, San Francisco, and John Mullahy, NBER and University of Wisconsin, Madison

Robert Kaestner, NBER and Baruch College, "Does Drug Use Cause Poverty?"

Marilyn Carroll, University of Minnesota, "Income Alters the RElative Reinforcing Effects of Drug and Nondrug Reinforces"

Discussants: Steven Hursh, Science Applications International, and Christopher Ruhm, Council of Economic Advisers

Robert L. Ohsfeldt and Eli I. Capilouto, University of Alabama, Birmingham, and Raymond G. Boyle, Health Partners Group Health Foundation, "Tobacco Taxes, Smoking Restrictions, and Tobacco Use"

Warren K. Bickel and Gregory J. Madden, University of Vermont, "The Behavioral Economics of Smoking"

Discussants: Kenneth E. Warner, University of Michigan, and Neil Grunberg, Uniformed Services University

Solomon W. Polachek and Norman Spear, SUNY-Binghamton, and Jerry Sarbaum, Whitman College, "The Effects of Price Changes on the Consumption of Alcohol in Alcohol-Experienced Rats"

Rudy E. Vuchinich and Cathy A. Simpson, Auburn University, "Delayed Reward Discounting in Alcohol Abuse"

Discussants: Michael Hilton, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and Thomas Babor, University of Connecticut

Frank J. Chaloupka, Michael Grossman; and John A. Tauras, University of Illinois, Chicago, "The Demand for Cocaine and Marijuana by Youth"

Stephen T. Higgins, University of Vermont, "Some Potential Contributions of Reinforcement and Consumer Demand Theory to Reducing Cocaine Use"

Discussants: Charles R. Schuster, Wayne State University, and Jonathan Caulkins, Carnegie-Mellon University

Henry Saffer and Frank J. Chaloupka, "Demographic Differentials in the demand for Alcohol...