The consensus among many health economists is that no meaningful performance differences exist among for-profit and non-profit hospitals in the US, but this topic has continued to be a matter of academic, judicial, and public policy interest. A similar debate has ensued internationally,...

By about 1988, the consensus among leading health economists was that no meaningful differences existed among hospitals of differences owernership form, and this position was embraced by the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice. But behavioural differences among hospitals of...