Collaborative Research: A Search - Theoretic Approach to Markets

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的非法药物的销售和使用导致了广泛的社会问题，包括犯罪和暴力。 认识到问题的严重性，执法官员投入了大量资源用于阻截、调查和起诉。 对这些努力的效果进行科学测量的工作还远远不够。 该项目利用经济学的最新进展，开发和分析了一个新的模型，买方和卖方在这个市场上的行为。 该模型建立在描述毒品买卖双方之间互动的经验模型基础上，然后使用博弈论进行预测。 这些假设进行了实证检验，从缉毒局提供的数据。 预计该项目的调查结果将使政府官员了解旨在减少非法药物供求的执法举措的有效性。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)The sale and use of illegal drugs contributes to a wide range of societal problems, including crime and violence. Recognizing the scope of the problem, law enforcement officials have devoted substantial resources to interdiction, investigation, and prosecution. Scientific measurements of the effects of these efforts have fallen short. This project draws on recent advances in economics to develop and analyze a new model buyer and seller behavior in this market. This model builds upon empirical regularities that characterize interactions between drug buyers and sellers and then uses game theory to generate predictions. These hypotheses are empirically tested with data available from the Drug Enforcement Administration. The findings from this project are expected to inform government officials on the effectiveness of law enforcement initiatives designed to reduce the supply and demand for illegal drugs.