In this paper, we evaluate the effect of demand uncertainty on hospital costs. Since hospital managers want to minimize the probability of not having enough capacity to satisfy demand, hospitals have to build excess capacity since demand is uncertain, and incur on the associated costs. Using...

The Danish hospital sector is facing a major restructuring over the coming decade that will involve hospital mergers and closures as well as construction of new hospitals. There is a clear trend towards fewer and larger hospitals. The evidence for economies of scale and scope underpinning these...

This paper examines costs in the Swiss nursing home industry, an issue of concern to Swiss policy makers because of the explosion of elderly care costs and the aging of the population. The paper considers estimation of a translog cost function employing panel data for a sample of 36 nonprofit...