The impact of the Colorado marijuana legalization on employment and GDP growth

• Κύριος συγγραφέας: Μαυρόπουλος, Αντώνιος
• Άλλοι συγγραφείς: Γιαννακόπουλος, Νικόλαος
• Μορφή: Thesis
• Γλώσσα: English
• Έκδοση: 2016
• Θέματα: Marijuana legalization; Colorado; Differences in differences; Unemployment; GDP per capita; Νομιμοποίηση μαριχουάνας; Κολοράντο; Διαφορές σε διαφορές; Ανεργία; Κατά κεφαλήν ΑΕΠ; 338.973 036

While many states and counties are on the verge of reforming their laws on Marijuana, this study examines the economic outcomes that the legalization of Marijuana has on U.S.A. states who have passed the according legislations, and the effects of this policy on Colorado counties, in comparison with counties of the neighboring state of Utah. In the background chapter, we provide some historical events prior to the legalization with the addition of the findings of other related economic studies on the subject, whereas in the literature review we provide the determinants used in the empirical models of our analysis. Our approach mainly relies on fixed effects regressions on state level data, as well as a differences in differences estimator on county level data. In the conclusion, the analysis presented shows the effect the policy has on reducing unemployment rates, or driving employment to higher levels, as well as the ambiguously directed impact it has on real GDP per capita, its growth and the average weekly wages of Coloradans.