Speakers: Zoe Lindenfeld, PhD & Amanda I. Mauri, PhD

The United States is in the midst of an overdose crisis. In response, researchers have examined the impact of policies at varying levels, as well as community characteristics, on substance use outcomes. Our work takes a different angle by focusing on the fiscal characteristics of state and local governments. Across several studies, we argue that the fiscal structures of subnational governments shape how they respond to the crisis and, in turn, influence the distribution of outcomes. We highlight two recent papers that adopt this perspective. The first uses national data from the U.S. Census of Governments to identify that higher police spending is linked to higher overdose mortality, especially in counties heavily reliant on fines and forfeitures, suggesting that extractive policing practices may worsen overdose outcomes. The second draws on opioid settlement spending data from North Carolina and finds that counties more reliant on own-source revenue were less likely to spend opioid settlement funds in the first three years of allocation, likely because they had alternative fiscal mechanisms under their control that reduced pressure to draw on settlement dollars immediately. Our objective with this work is to bring fiscal structures into the center of policy debates on the opioid crisis, offering insights that help explain uneven responses and guide more effective future interventions.

Date: October 22, 2025 | 1:30 PM-3:00 PM

Location: Martha Van Rensselaer Hall 2219 (Zoom option available)