Antitrust challenges to hospital mergers have become increasingly common. Empirical studies of hospital prices and costs have generally utilized static measures of concentration and accounting data. This study avoids the difficulties that surround such approaches. Instead, this study seeks an...

Exclusive contracts between hospitals and physicians are common. In most instances they raise no anticompetitive concerns. However, especially in rural markets, exclusive contracts may be used to foreclose actual and potential competitors and thereby decrease competition. The courts should weigh...

What are the economic rationales for the public subsidy of private health insurance? Inducing more people to purchase private cover has the potential to create a positive fiscal externality, as it frees up the limited public beds and other public resources for people who cannot afford private...

The economic and legal view of vertical integration has varied over time, but, a constant source of concern is the fear that the integrated firm will foreclose competitors from intermediate markets. At the same time, most commentators have considered the economics of vertical contracts,...