Fall 2008 Seminar Series

DATE: November 13, 2008
LOCATION: E51-063
TIME: 4:15pm
Reception immediately following in the ORC ConferenceRoom, E40-106

SPEAKER:
Jonathan Caulkins

TITLE
How Should the Mix of Drug Control Strategies Vary Over a Drug Epidemic?

ABSTRACT
Drug use spreads contagiously in ways that can be modeled by drawing inspiration from the literatures on product diffusion (e.g., the classic Bass model), HIV/AIDS (e.g., the work of Kaplan, Brandeau, and others), and conventional disease modeling (so-called SIR modeling). Policy analysis seeks to understand what are the most cost-effective ways of controlling drug problems: operations in producer countries, border interdiction, targeting kingpins, street level enforcement, treatment, or prevention? This talk marries these two perspectives to ask how the optimal mix of drug control strategies might evolve over the “product life cycle” of a drug epidemic.