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Here’s Why Yellen’s Fed Cares About America’s Opioid Epidemic

Fed officials are bringing up America’s addiction crisis

Abuse is both an economic symptom and driver of labor problems

The opioid epidemic falls outside of the Fed’s traditional macroeconomic purview, yet it matters to the central bank for two reasons. If addiction is rendering people unemployable, it could help to explain why a historically low portion of the prime-age population is working. Second, the Fed has increased its focus on community and workforce development in recent years -- and the opioid crisis is a painful reality dragging on human capital across America.

An estimated 2.7 million adults over the age of 26 were misusing painkillers as of 2015, while another 236,000 currently used heroin, based on test Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration data. While opioid abusers account for a tiny sliver in a workforce of 160 million, they probably make up a greater share of the 7 million who are unemployed.

“Our district is the epicenter of this crisis,” said Kyle Fee, regional community development advisor at the Cleveland Fed, which hosted a policy conference in June that included a panel specifically dedicated to opioids. “It was a good way for us to dip our toe into this topic,” he said.

Most economic research on the effects of the opioid crisis comes from academia, rather than Fed researchers, and it shows a two-way relationship between the drugs and the U.S. economy.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-20/here-s-why-yellen-s-fed-cares-about-america-s-opioid-epidemic



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