This study explores the effect of in-person schooling on youth suicide. We document three key findings. First, using data from the National Vital Statistics System from 1990-2019, we document the historical association between teen suicides and the school calendar. We show that suicides among...

The effect of competition on the quality of health care remains a contested issue. Most empirical estimates rely on inference from non-experimental data. In contrast, this paper exploits a pro-competitive policy reform to provide estimates of the impact of competition on hospital outcomes. The...

We study physician agency and optimal payment policy in the context of an expensive medication used in dialysis care. Using Medicare claims data we estimate a structural model of treatment decisions, in which physicians differ in their altruism and marginal costs, and this heterogeneity is...

This chapter reviews the literature devoted to studying markets for health care services and health insurance. There has been tremendous growth and progress in this field. A tremendous amount of new research has been done since the publication of the first volume of this Handbook. In addition,...

Despite the fact that migraine headache is common and debilitating, very little is known about its effect on educational attainment. Using data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we estimate the relationship between migraine headache and four outcomes: high school...

We use insurance claims data for 27.6 percent of individuals with private employer-sponsored insurance in the US between 2007 and 2011 to examine the variation in health spending and in hospitals' transaction prices. We document the variation in hospital prices within and across geographic...

This paper examines the effect of HMO market development on hospital utilization in short term general hospitals in the U.S. between 1985 and 1993. HMO penetration does not explain the majority or even a substantial minority of the variation in hospital utilization. Among seven measures of...

The health care industry is being transformed. Rapid consolidation, taking the form of both mergers and acquisitions and rapidly shifting alliances and contractual relations, has led to a marked increase in concentration. Within the next few years, many markets are predicted to be dominated by a...

The U.S. health care system is organized around markets. There has, however, been ongoing concern about the functioning of these markets, so much so that some have despaired of these markets working at all. The policy response to this concern has been disjointed. Health care markets are subject...