In this paper we show how both the choice of specific constraints on input and output weights (in accordance with health care policy-makers’ preferences) and the consideration of exogenous variables outside the control of hospital management (and linked to past policy-makers’ decisions) can...

Cost sharing represent a well-established tool for the control of health care demand in many Oecd countries, even though it is used with caution, and in combination with other instruments, in order to avoid potential negative impacts on access to essential health care services. Waiting lists and...

Over the past thirty years, health expenditure has grown at a faster rate than the economy in almost every OECD country. The main drivers of public health spending are income growth, insurance coverage, demographics, and, above all, technological change. According to the projections of the major...

A growing body of thought in the literature and the policy debate is calling for eligibility criteria and funding methods in healthcare to be predicated on individual responsibility. To date this approach has had no tangible impact on public health systems: the choice adopted is to avoid...

This paper analyses the decision to invest in a new technology (as a way to increase quality) by a hospital using a real option framework. The environment is characterised by uncertainty on costs and returns of such investment and by the assumption that physicians are 'devoted workers'. We model...

Using data from SHARE (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe), we analyze the effect of having a voluntary health insurance policy (VPHI) on out-of-pocket (OOP) health spending for individuals aged 50 or more in a host of European countries. We control for self selection into VPHI...

This paper analyses the decision to invest in quality by a hospital in an environment where doctors are devoted workers, i.e. they care for specific aspects of the output they produce. We assume that quality is the result of both an investment in new technology and the effort of the medical...

Standard spending needs of municipalities, a crucial aspect of fiscal federalism, should be computed under some conditions: that municipalities have the same efficiency, that citizens have the same preferences, and, especially, that local governments are equal with regard to some «non...