Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Department

Economics

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Opioid overdose in the United Kingdom has risen drastically over the last few years along with the rise in the use of zero-hours contracts. Zero-hours contracts are contracts for employment that guarantee no work but can anchor a person to a job that doesn’t pay above minimum wage when they do not receive work. Since opioid use is often associated with poorer economic conditions in the United States, this paper attempts to measure any correlation between poverty and opioid use in the UK. Using zero-hours contracts as a proxy for underemployment we use several regression models to determine the predictability of the proxy on opioid overdose and the extent to which change in underemployment can affect opioid overdose death rates.

Advisor(s) or Committee Chair

Dr. Brian Strow, Dr. Stephen Locke, Dr. Dennis Wilson

Disciplines

Economics | Macroeconomics | Public Health

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