The Price Elasticity of Hard Drugs: The Case of Opium in the Dutch East Indies, 1923-1938
Journal of Political Economy
1995
At the beginning of this century the Dutch government controlled the opium market in the Dutch East Indies--nowadays Indonesia--for several decades. This state monopoly was called the opiumregie. Using information gathered during the opiumregie, this paper estimates price elasticities of opium consumption. It appears that short-term price elasticities of opium use are about -0.7. Long-term price elasticities are about -1.0.
- DOI
- 10.1086/261983
- Volume
- 103 (2)
- Pages
- 261-279
- Language
- en
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