We study jointly the health perception of the elderly and the care giving decision of their adult children. Social interactions play a crucial role: elder parents' health perception depends on relations with household members. On the other hand adult children make their care giving decisions...

Social interactions are widely recognized as critical in initiating many habit-forming processes, especially regarding substance use. Nevertheless, little attention has been given to the behavioral biases of individuals as a potential driving factor in such consumption. This paper presents a...

In many contexts we may be interested in understanding whether direct connections between agents, such as declared friendships in a classroom or family links in a rural village, affect their outcomes. In this paper we review the literature studying econometric methods for the analysis of social...

The discussion about health care systems focuses on the dynamics of expenditures and on the weak growth of the revenue base. In this discussion it is widely overseen that medical expenditures and supply of medical services crucially depend on the compensation of physician services. The paper...

Prevention ranges from medical decisions such as vaccinations and clinical preventive services delivered during periodic health examinations to private health lifestyle decisions such as regular exercise and non-smoking. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of economic issues that...

This paper analyzes the forces contributing to the worldwide long-run rise in obesity and the role of public interventions in affecting its continued growth. A growth in obesity in a population must result from the growth of calorie consumption outpacing the growth of physical activity. Yet in...

The 1990's have seen an explosion of state legislation mandating the provision of specific health insurance benefits, and the federal government appears poised to enact significant managed care patient protection legislation as well. Although patient protection is popular with voters, economists...

In a pharmaceuticals Reference Price Scheme (RPS), firms are free to set their prices, but the (insured) consumer pays only the difference between the Reference level (R) and the actual price of the drug, if this is higher than R.By introducing n (1) firms with infinite cross-price elasticity...

Applying principles of merger evaluation to the health care industry in general, and to hospital markets in particular, poses several unique challenges. Definition of relevant geographic markets and assessment of the consequences of changes in competition for patient and social welfare are...

This article is one of nine appearing in a forthcoming symposium focused on Richard Epstein's book "Mortal Peril." This article begins by questioning the legitimacy of the conclusions Epstein reaches about the proper role of government with respect to health care financing, observing that...