Lucy Xiaolu Wang

UMass Assistant Professor Lucy Wang
Assistant Professor
Department of Resource Economics | College of Social & Behavioral Sciences
208B Stockbridge Hall

Project Title: Entrepreneurship in the Cannabis Market: Economic and Social Equity in an Evolving Ecosystem 

Although the cannabis industry has shown strong potential to contribute to economic recovery and job growth in the US, the factors determining success in this nascent market for entrepreneurs—especially those belonging to under-represented groups— remain unclear. The continually evolving roles and relationships of business owners in the cannabis ecosystem, as well as changing political and legal contexts, amount to an uncertain outlook for entrepreneurs. Prior studies on cannabis legalization mostly focus on the downstream impact of cannabis on consumers, but we know little about how the entrepreneurship ecosystem has evolved. This project fills the gap by examining key growth drivers and market frictions to provide the first systematic analysis of the evolving cannabis entrepreneurship ecosystem. In doing so, we will analyze how policy shapes the actions of and relationships between ecosystem participants, and thus influences both business success and social equity outcomes.

Selected Publications:

  • “Kreyer, C., & Wang, L. X. (2022). Collaborating neuroscience online: The case of the Human Brain Project forum. PLOS ONE17(12), e0278402. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278402

  • Wang, L. X. (2022). Global drug diffusion and innovation with the medicines patent pool. Journal of Health Economics85, 102671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2022.102671

  • Wang, L. X., & Wilson, N. J. (2022). US State approaches to cannabis licensing. International Journal of Drug Policy106, 103755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103755

  • “Medicines Patent Pool and HIV Drug Cocktail Diffusion and Innovation,” 2021, In Guclu Atinc (Ed.), Best Paper Proceedings of the Eight-first Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management

  • “The Complementarity of Drug Monitoring Programs and Health IT for Reducing Opioid-Related Mortality and Morbidity,” 2021, Health Economicshttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hec.4360

  • “The Secret Menu in Health Care: A Cash Market for Imaging in California,” with Jordan Epstein (Stroll Health), Sean Nicholson (Cornell), Katherine Hempstead (RWJF), Sam Asin (Stroll Health), 2020. INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and FinancingFunded by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; https://doi.org/10.1177/0046958020981449