Framing the Problem
How do we begin to understand the impact of the opioid epidemic? An understanding about the problems the epidemic created, the challenges state and local governments might face as they attempt to address these problems, and the importance of generating evidence are all essential to any chance of successful healing for families and communities. Bill Evans, Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics and co-founder of the Wilson-Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities at Notre Dame, dives into the history and context of the opioid epidemic.
Experience the Episode
Friday, December 20, 2024 12:00 pm
“The fact that strikes me the most is that between 1999 and 2021 there have been about a million deaths from drug poisonings. If you were to total the number of US soldiers that have died in all military conflicts since the Revolutionary War, it’s about the same number. It’s on the scale of armed conflict that our country has faced in its 200 year history.”
How do we begin to understand the impact of the opioid epidemic? An understanding about the problems the epidemic created, the challenges state and local governments might face as they attempt to address these problems, and the importance of generating evidence are all essential to any chance of successful healing for families and communities. Bill Evans, Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics and co-founder of the Wilson-Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities at Notre Dame, dives into the history and context of the opioid epidemic.
This discussion took place at the University of Notre Dame’s Summit on the Opioids Settlement: A Pathway to Hope which focused on how to most effectively distribute the nearly $50 billion in settlement dollars to maximize the impact on our communities and citizens.
Held in August 2024, this summit brought together attorneys general from across the country to discuss best practices to proactively evaluate the efficacy of opioid abatement programs and develop strategies to best distribute the funds. Led by the University of Notre Dame’s Poverty Initiative, the summit explores how evidence-based practices can inform decision making and ensure that the Opioids Settlement best helps those victims it is meant to serve.
Speaker:
- Bill Evans, Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics and co-founder of the Wilson-Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities
Meet the Faculty: William Evans
Presented by William Evans
Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics and co-founder of the Lab for Economic Opportunities
In 2007, Bill Evans joined the Department of Economics at Notre Dame as the university’s first Keough-Hesburgh Professor. This professorship was designed to attract leading scholars to Notre Dame to contribute to both the academic life as well as the Catholic mission of the university. Evans received his undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University and his Ph.D. in economics from Duke University. His research covers a broad range of areas including health economics and the economics of education. His work has appeared in the top journals in the economics profession, and his research is routinely covered by the popular press. In 2012, Evans and his colleague Jim Sullivan started the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities, a research center devoted to finding evidence-based solutions to poverty. He and his wife Eileen have three boys, Conor (ND 2012), Brendan (ND 2015), and Patrick (ND 2019).
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