Viagra and Opium

1. An interesting opium timeline. What's really interesting is the effect that 9/11 had on heroin prices. Afghanistan was one of the world's leading exporters of heroin. Under the Taliban, opium production went nearly to zero. This was effectively a leftward shift in the supply of heroin to the market and resulted in a somewhat significant spike in the retail price. 9/11, oddly enough, by triggering the invasion into Afghanistan and thus toppling the Taliban regime, caused again a falling heroin price after Afghan farmers reverted to opium production. So, an enterprising economist like myself is looking into this potential "natural experiment" to see if in reality the Taliban invasion (a) caused a rise in heroin retail prices and (b) caused any change in the complements to heroin consumption, like crime and entry into rehab for heroin.

2. Another interesting article I came across is entitled, the curse of Viagra. Viagra is over a billion dollar a year industry since 1998. The other products also do well - Cialis which has 29% of the sexual dysfunction medication market, Levitra which has 15%, and Viagra which has nearly all the rest). Here's the breakdown on some of the "unintended" behavioral effects of Viagra availability, at least anecdotally. (1) increased divorces as older men go back on the market, (2) increasing age gaps in marriage and paternity as older men marry/impregnate younger women, and (3) STD outbreaks in assisted living facilities, as well as among older males. Again, the object of a new project of mine starting this summer - estimating causal effects of Viagra treatments on marriage, divorce and other health outcomes.