In many developed countries attempts to reform physicians payment schemes have failed. To analyze some of the difficulties, this paper studies reforms of payment schemes in situations such as the physician agency, where the quality of the good produced is imperfectly observable by the payer. We...

The present Paper investigates political constraints that may impair attempts to reform payment schemes of a given profession. When the good produced (e.g. health care) is imperfectly observable by the payer (e.g. health insurance), asymmetries of information limit the possibility to base...

Cet article analyse quelles modalités de concurrence dans l'assurance santé peuvent améliorer l'efficience du système tout en satisfaisant à certains impératifs d'équité. L'analyse s'appuie sur des arguments théoriques et quelques expériences étrangères. La régulation des relations...

This paper studies how competition in health insurance markets may improve the health system efficiency, while respecting some equity constraints. The analysis is based upon theoretical arguments, and lessons drawn from some recent reforms in other countries. The regulation of the relationship...

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the link between health insurance coverage and health care expenditures. We use claims data for over 60 000 adult individuals covered by a major Swiss Health Insurance Fund, followed for up to four years. In the Swiss health insurance system, each...

In this paper, we consider that our experience of time (to come) depends on the emotions we feel when we imagine future pleasant or unpleasant events. A positive emotion such as relief or joy associated with a pleasant event that will happen in the future induces impatience. Impatience, in our...

Many public policies, and especially health policies, are aimed at modifying individual behavior. This is particularly true of anti smoking policies. However, health behavior is highly heterogeneous, and so are individual responses to public policies such as taxes or restriction on use. We...

Recent studies examining the relationship between family income and child health in the UK have produced mixed findings. We re-examine the income gradient in child general health and its evolution with child age in this country, using a very large sample of British children. We find that there...

This paper offers an indirect measure of patient welfare based on whether patients comply with the prescription they receive. Adherence behavior is supposed to reveal patients' subjective valuations of particular therapies. We write a simple theoretical model of patient adherence behavior, that...