Evidence of regional variation in health care utilization has been well-documented over the past 40 years. Yet … matters for both theory and policy. In this article, we provide new evidence as to the cause of geographic variation in health … care utilization. We do so by examining changes in health care use by the near-elderly as they transition from being …

The contribution of cigarette smoking to national health expenditures is thought to be large, but our current … smokers from merged National Health Interview Survey and Medicare claims information. Consistent with our theory, we find that …

We use unique data from an insurer that exclusively offers high-deductible, "consumer-directed" health plans to … identify the effect of plan features, notably the spending account, on health care spending. Our results show that the marginal … of the components of consumer-driven health plans on health spending. The magnitudes of the effects suggest important …

Basic economic theory suggests that health insurance coverage may cause a reduction in prevention activities, but … involve adverse health events, evidence of ex ante moral hazard is more consistent. In this paper, we extend the analysis of … the effect of health insurance on health behaviors by allowing for the possibility that health insurance has a direct (ex …