The German Robert Koch Institute aims to "protect the population from disease and improve their state of health" (RKI 2017). To this end, it develops concrete, research-based recommendations for policymakers and makes data available to the expert public. Since March 4, 2020, it has been...

Long-term exposure to ambient air pollutant concentrations is known to cause chronic lung inflammation, a condition that may promote increased severity of COVID-19 syndrome caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). In this paper, we empirically investigate the ecologic association between...

Individuals should be entitled to a "fair innings", and the primary role of health systems should be the prevention of premature mortality. In India, 66 percent of all deaths are premature. The burden of premature mortality has shifted from child (0-5 years) to adult (30-69 years) level over the...

The German Robert Koch Institute aims to "protect the population from disease and improve their state of health" (RKI 2017). To this end, it develops concrete, research-based recommendations for policymakers and makes data available to the expert public. Since March 4, 2020, it has been...

This paper examines how physicians in China respond to a pay-for-performance scheme that mismeasures performance. In 2005, China imposed a policy that penalizes hospitals with high drug sale percentage in the total revenue, with the intent to decrease drug expenditure. Using a unique...

Prior literature on quality disclosure focuses on whether information provision affects consumer choice. This paper extends this research and explores whether information presentation affects consumer responsiveness in the context of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) reports. I find that...

Healthcare payers try to reduce costs by promoting the use of cheaper generic drugs. We show strong interrelations in drug prescriptions between the inpatient and outpatient sectors by using a large administrative dataset from Austria. Patients with prior hospital visits have a significantly...

I investigate the relationship between physician pay, C-section use, and infant health, using vital statistics data and newly collected data on Medicaid payments to physicians. First, I confirm past results - when Medicaid pays doctors relatively more for C-sections, they perform them more...

The difficulties that Medicaid beneficiaries face accessing medical care are often attributed to the program's low reimbursement rates relative to other payers. There is little evidence, however, as to the actual effects of Medicaid doctor payment rates on access and health outcomes for...

Healthcare services are more widespread in Latin America and the Caribbean today than 50 years ago, yet this availability is not necessarily reflected in popular perceptions. This study documents the expansion of healthcare services in the Region in terms of medically-trained professionals,...