Virtual patients’ communities are developing on the Internet. These communities allow frequent interactions among patients, who can share health-related information within an interactive environment. However, we know very little about what determines patients’ online collective action on Web...

Technical standards take such a big part in our daily life (cars, mobile phones, food and so on) that it seems to become an invisible phenomenon. The construction of these standards is mainly embedded in international arenas and networks. Scholars still know few of actors and know-how in this...

Dès son arrivée aux affaires, l’administration Clinton a entrepris une politique d’amélioration de la compétitivité de l’économie américaine par la technologie : « Technology for Economic Growth ». Cette politique, qui doit beaucoup au vice président Al Gore, vise à réorienter...

This paper analyses the potentially defensive behaviour of patent race winners and its effect on aggregate R&D effort. It proposes a quality-ladders model that endogenously determines leaders technology advantages and who innovates. Product market regulation can have either a positive or a...

In many areas of health care financing, there is controversy over the sources of cost variability and about the respective roles of inefficiency versus legitimate heterogeneity. This paper proposes a payment system that creates incentives to increase hospital efficiency when hospitals are...

Alors que les prix pratiqués par les médecins de secteur 1 sont fixés et régulés, les médecins de secteur 2 ont la possibilité de pratiquer avec « tact et mesure » des dépassements d’honoraires pour les mêmes actes. Depuis le 1 er décembre 1989, l’accès au secteur 2 est...

Background Patent expiries on leading biologics are creating new momentum in the market for biosimilars (copies of off-patent biologics), paving the way for their development. However, little is known about the factors influencing the competition between biosimilars and their reference products...

Background In 2009, a voluntary-based pay for performance scheme targeting general practitioners (GPs) was introduced in France through the ‘Contract for Improving Individual Practices’ (CAPI). Objective To study the impact of the CAPI on French GPs’ consultation length. Methods Univariate...

Is, or should, healthcare be profitable? Over and above “private” health, does it have an effect on public health? Improved living conditions are sometimes considered to play a more important role in greater life expectancy than medicine. Even though this may have been true in the 19th...

The strategy currently adopted in France to deal with the ever-growing health expenditures is one of freezing compulsory deductions and broadening the scope of complementary insurance, while at the same time reaffirming that such insurance is optional. But individual freedom to take out...