In this paper, we use individual level data on purchases of one of the most prescribed categories of drugs (cholesterol-lowering statins) to study the responses of physicians and patients to variation in the cost of drugs. In a sample of first-time statin prescriptions to employees from a group...

This interactive graphic illustrates the mobility of U.S. families across income classes during the decade. The main finding is that family income mobility is limited: After sorting families observed in both 1994 and 2004 from poorest to richest across five income classes in each year, the data...

When firms span related product categories, spillovers across categories become central to firm strategy and industrial policy, due to their potential to foreclose competition and affect innovation incentives. We exploit major new product innovations in one medical device category, and detailed...

Economists’ standard notion of intellectual property rights considers a single patent per product, with a clearly defined scope, certain enforcement, and a fixed term of monopoly protection. Yet common across industries are “imperfect” intellectual property rights: More than one patent may...

Banking industry is advancing rapidly across the globe. With technology affecting all spheres of life, banking industry too has not been left behind. Today, majority of the banks are offering Internet banking features and services to their customers that are standardized in nature. To become...

When firms span related product categories, spillovers across categories become central to firm strategy and industrial policy, due to their potential to foreclose competition and affect innovation incentives. We exploit major new product innovations in one medical device category, and detailed...

We use detailed panel data at the buyer level to understand the size and nature of spillovers across product categories in medical devices. Difference-in-differences regressions identify spillovers in usage (accounting for 21 percent of market share) across categories that share physical...

About one-third of elderly Americans age 65 and older supplements their Medicare health insurance in a private insurance market known as the ÒMedigapÓ market. Prices for Medigap policies vary widely, despite the fact that regulations enacted in 1992 standardized all Medigap policies, thereby...

As health care costs continue to rise, medical expenses have become an increasingly important contributor to financial risk. Economic theory suggests that when background risk rises, individuals will reduce their exposure to other risks. This paper presents a test of this theory by examining the...