Average vs. Marginal Benefit of Medical Treatment

“The weak relationship between aggregate spending and health outcomes is in stark contrast to evidence showing pronounced medical benefits for use of specific medical devices, procedures, or pharmaceuticals. For example, advances in the treatment of heart attacks reduced the one-year mortality rate for these patients by 5 percentage points between 1984 and 1991 (Cutler et…

Does competition improve health care quality?

If economists decided to re-write the Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt love Competition” may make the list.  However, does competition always improve quality?  Even in the case of health care? A paper by Scanlon et al. (2008) “…found no evidence of a strong and consistent relationship between HMO competition (measured either by the HHI or the…

Maternal Leave and Maternal Health

Does taking time off of work help to improve maternal health after pregnancy? A recent NBER working paper by Pinka Chatterji and Sara Markowitz attempts to answer this question. The abstract of the paper is below: In the United States, almost a third of new mothers who worked during pregnancy return to work within three…

Value of Life in General Equilibrium

Economists believe that the value of life increases as life expectancy increases. While this is generally true, a paper by Jena, Mulligan, Philipson, and Eric Sun (2008) shows that while people value living for a long time, the value this longer life expectancy more when their friends and family also live longer. In the authors…

Cochrane Review: The effect of capitation, fee-for-service (FFS) and mixed payment systems on primary care physician behavior

Primary care physicians can be compensated in a number of ways. The most popular are capitation, fee-for-service, salary, or some mixture of the three. But how does the physician compensation method affect care levels? This is the question Gosden et al. (2000) try to answer in their Cochrane review. The authors search the literature for…

Absenteeism and Presenteeism

Should employers provide health insurance to their employees? There are many reasons why they should. One is that employees are attracted to firms that offer health insurance, especially since their are tax and cost advantages to group health insurance purchased through an employer. Another reason is that if a worker becomes sick, that reduces productivity.…

Science 2.0

The Scientific American magazine has an interesting article (“Science 2.0“) about the web, open-access, blogging and research. Should researchers post their results online? Should scientists blog about their methodology? Pros It seems like academic research is the perfect forum for social networking and blogging. The sharing of ideas is a key means towards scientific invention/innovation.…

Doctors, Patients, and the Racial Mortality Gap

Differences in the health outcomes between white and minority patients has been well documented in the medical and economics literature. Reasons for this difference could be: Unequal access to treatment. Minorities are poorer and less likely to be covered by insurance than whites. Unequal treatment – Minorities are less likely to have a regular doc,…