We use a model of horizontal and vertical differentiation to study physicians´incentives to provide quality in the physician-patient relationship under price regulation. If the price is the only regulatory variable, the social planner cannot implement the first-best policy. Moreover, the...

The German statutory health insurance market was exposed to competition in 1996. To limit direct risk selection the regulator required open enrollment. As the risk compensation scheme, introduced in 1994, is highly incomplete, substantial incentives for risk selection exist. Due to their low...

Debate over the effects of public versus private health care finance persists in both academic and policy circles. This paper presents the results of a revealed preference laboratory experiment that tests how characteristics of the public health system affect a subject's willingness-to-pay (WTP)...

Abstract Increasing demand for long-term care poses at least five challenges to the policy-maker: (i) How should care be supplied, within a nursing home or within the family? (ii) What level of care should be provided in the different arrangements? (iii) How do the answers relate to the severity...

We analyse the deficits of the German Lander (regional states) for the period 1960 to 2005 and test a number of hypotheses derived from the literature on the political economy of public deficits. We find evidence for the weak government hypothesis, that is, coalition governments issue...