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Steve speaks with William Evans and Ethan Lieber about the heartbreaking rise of deaths due to drug misuse in the United States. A major shift in prescription practices for pain management after 1995 drove higher levels of opiate use and misuse and contributed to an explosion of illicit opiates in the 21st century. It’s a disturbing story of professional misjudgments, deceptive marketing, policy mistakes, and unintended consequences. Reforms in prescription practices, while overdue, will mitigate but not solve current-day problems of drug abuse and misuse.
Recorded on April 9, 2026.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
William Evans is the Keough-Hesburgh Professor in the Department of Economics at Notre Dame and a co-founder of the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities. He is also a faculty affiliate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab. His principal research interests are in labor economics, the economics of education, public finance, and health economics.
Ethan Lieber is the Dillon Hall Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Economics Department at Notre Dame. He is also a Research Associate in the health care program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research interests are in the field of health economics, including information frictions in health care and the intersection of health care with public finance and industrial organization.
RELATED SOURCES
- William Evans and Ethan Lieber, “Prescription for Disaster: The SSDI Rate, Pain, and Prescribing Practices.” Journal of Human Resources, January 2026.
- Alpert, Evans, Lieber and Powell, “Origins of the Opioid Crisis and its Enduring Impacts.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 2022.
- Caroline Arteaga and Victoria Barone. “Republican Support and Economic Hardship: The Enduring Effects of the Opioid Epidemic.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 2026.
- Rebecca Haw Allensworth, The Licensing Racket: How We Decide Who Is Allowed to Work, and Why It Goes Wrong, Harvard University Press, 2025.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Each episode of Economics, Applied, a video podcast series, features senior fellow Steven Davis in conversation with leaders and researchers about economic developments and their ramifications. The goal is to bring evidence and economic reasoning to the table, drawing lessons for individuals, organizations, and society. The podcast also aims to showcase the value of individual initiative, markets, the rule of law, and sound policy in fostering prosperity and security.
For more information, visit hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.
