Three important issues have recently attracted researchers to study the economics of disability. First with the availability of sophisticated data sets, it has become possible to conduct highly quantative investigations of the relative economic impacts of various types of disabling health...

With the spread of cost-based hospital payment systems in the United States in the 1960s, and the implementation of the Medicare and Medicaid programs in 1966, rapidly rising hospital costs imposed unexpected pressures on Federal and state budgets and generated a demand for regulatory...

This paper estimates a quasi-structural birthweight production function using data on counties for the years 1975-84. The analysis focuses on the effects of first trimester initiation of prenatal care, controlling for use of abortion services, cigarette smoking, birth order, and income. A...

With the spread of cost-based hospital payment systems in the United States in the 1960s, and the implementation of the Medicare and Medicaid programs in 1966, rapidly rising hospital costs imposed unexpected pressures on Federal and state budgets and generated a demand for regulatory...

Government appears to both promote and mistrust nonprofit organizations in the health sector. Tax exemptions, subsidies, and preferential treatment in contracts support these organizations. Legislation that links the supply of charity care to tax exemptions demonstrates mistrust. In this paper,...

In 1992, the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced new insurance coverage for two preventive services - influenza vaccinations and mammograms. Economists typically assume transactions occur with perfect information and foresight. As a test of the value of...

Federal purchases of major childhood vaccines account for roughly half of the total market for these vaccines. This paper examines Federal purchasing practices in the context of the recent literature on bidding and procurement, and compares these practices to UNICEF vaccine procurement...