The Economic and Social Determinants of the Opioid Epidemic

I am looking for a research assistant for a study that will examine the economic and social determinants of the recent opioid epidemic in the United States. A distinguishing feature of the opioid epidemic is that prescription medications are misused. Moreover, the epidemic has been concentrated in rural white populations, not all of which are poor. Preliminary analysis indicates that there is a nonmonotonic relationship between opioid mortality and income across rural U.S. counties. We will examine the mechanisms underlying this relationship in the coming year using multiple datasets.