The problem of how to pay the increasingly costly medical bills of retired Americans is rapidly rising as a national priority, not just among policymakers, but also among the general public. As a result, deeper thinking within the health policy community on two broad issues is taking place: How...

Prolonged hospital stays, or hospital stays that are longer than medically necessary, are a major concern for patients, payers, and providers. We conceptualize and empirically estimate the prevalence and cost of prolonged stays among elderly hospital patients (65 years and older) in Brazil and...

There are widespread differences in health care spending and utilization across regions of the US as well as in other countries. Are these variations caused by demand-side factors such as patient preferences, health status, income, or access? Or are they caused by supply-side factors such as...

There is widespread concern about the quality of care in nursing homes. Based on administrative data of a large health insurance fund, we investigate whether nursing home prices affect relevant quality of care indicators at the resident level. Our results indicate a significantly negative price...

The high-speed growth of the health care sector has given this sector an increasingly important role in the stock market. This sector however has the highest mean in our study and a low correlation with the business cycle. On the other hand, T-Bill is also an important asset in investment...

The objective of this briefing is to summarise concisely the evidence on incentives that encourage providers of health care to follow guidance on best practice, particularly where that guidance requires the use of specific medicines or other health technologies. We define incentives broadly, to...

This paper discusses the relationship between medical innovations and ageing from a health economics perspective and surveys empirical evidence on medical R&D incentives, R&D costs of pharmaceuticals, and the cost-effectiveness of health innovations. Particular focus is on the endogeneity of...

This paper investigates the returns to health care provision during the mortality transition. We construct a new panel data set covering German municipalities from 1928 to 1936. The endogeneity of health care supply is addressed by using the expulsion of Jewish physicians from statutory health...