Centralized public sector wage setting for public sector workers is widespread. We would expect such regulation to have effects on labor supply and on the productivity of public services in areas with strong local labor markets. In this paper we test this, using the British National Health...

Individuals with common mental disorders (CMDs) such as depression and anxiety frequently have co-occurring long-term physical health conditions (LTCs) and this co-occurrence is associated with higher hospital utilisation. Psychological treatment for CMDs may reduce healthcare utilisation...

A number of health care systems use waiting time as a rationing device for access to inpatient care. However, a considerable amount of research has focussed in particular on the UK's National Health Service and its perceived problem of waiting “lists”. In this chapter a theoretical...

The literature on mergers between private hospitals suggests that such mergers often produce little benefit. Despite this, the UK government has pursued an active policy of hospital merger. These mergers are initiated by a regulator, acting on behalf of the public, and justified on the grounds...

In this paper we examine the causal impact of competition on management quality. We analyze the hospital sector where geographic proximity is a key determinant of competition, and English public hospitals where political competition can be used to construct instrumental variables for market...