Two ingredients seem essential in understanding the patient-physician relationship: (i) the physician's informational advantage and (ii) the relevance of the patient's emotions. Health economics has placed great emphasis on the first phenomenon, whereas the second has been considered only...

We extend the theory of advertising as a quality signal, using a model where an entrant can choose to advertise by comparing its product to that of an established incumbent. Comparative advertising, comparing quality of one’s own product to that of a rival’s, empowers the latter to file for...

The paper focuses on secondary prevention, such as diagnostic screening, medical examinations and checks-up, which refers to the early detection of disease. Secondary prevention is analyzed as a self-insurance activity reducing the negative shock of illness and can be either complement or...

This paper investigates the topping-up scheme in health insurance when both public and private insurers use a linear contract. It is shown that, with identical consumers, the second-best allocation is obtained. Whereas, introducing consumers' heterogeneity with respect to the wage rate when...

While “integrated” systems regulate the quantity of health services, “Bismarckian” systems regulate their price. This paper compares the consumers’ allocations implemented within the two reimbursement systems. In the model, illness has a negative impact on labor productivity while...

The paper focuses on secondary prevention, such as diagnostic screening, medical examinations and checks-up, which refers to the early detection of disease. Secondary prevention is analyzed as a self-insurance activity reducing the negative shock of illness and can be either complement or...

"We extend the theory of advertising as a quality signal" "using a model where an entrant can choose to advertise by comparing its product to that of an established incumbent. Comparative advertising, comparing quality of one's own product to that of a rival's, empowers the latter to file for...